Comes Out of Darkness, Morn
by Sara Wolfe
Summary: All it took was a second for Paige's entire world to come crashing down around her. One second for her daughter to disappear, forever. And in trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, she discovers a life - and a family - that she never could have imagined. Sequel to Gossamer.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **So, here we are, the sequel to _Gossamer._ Buckle up, folks, 'cause you're in for a wild ride of tears, laughter, action, angst, and lots of adorable Paige and Henry moments. As always, a major amount of the credit goes to my beta, **liron-aria**, who is just all-around awesome, and made this story great.

* * *

_"What do you mean you've stopped looking?"_

_"I'm sorry, Ms. Matthews, but we have no leads, no suspects, we've received no kind of ransom demand in the three weeks that your daughter has been missing. The department does not have the manpower or the resources to devote to a further search. I'm sorry, but your case has been classified as cold."_

_"So, that's it? My daughter was taken from me, and you're telling me that you're just going to give up?"_

_"I know how you must feel-"_

_"You don't know a goddamn thing!"_

_"I'm sorry, Ms. Matthews. There's nothing further that the San Francisco Police can do for you."_

Paige growled under her breath, slamming her gloved fist into the heavy punching bag hanging from the ceiling. Last week, she'd joined a gym and signed up for kickboxing class as a way to work off the constant adrenaline that hummed through her veins. She was fairly certain she sucked, but beating the crap out of a hapless bag made her tired enough to actually sleep at night, so she kept at it.

Throwing another punch, she sent the bag swinging backwards. She caught the bag as it swung back toward her, steadying it before it could keep moving, and then she slumped, leaning her weight against the bag. After a few moments she straightened up and headed back to the locker room on legs that trembled with exhaustion from the grueling workout she'd just put herself through.

She changed quickly, stowing her workout clothes in the duffel bag she'd stuffed in the locker. Then, she headed outside, blinking at the bright sunshine. She'd walked to the gym after her disastrous meeting with the inspector working on Pax's case, and she'd been planning on walking home, using the time to cool down, physically and emotionally. But, she wasn't really paying attention when she started walking, and she was already halfway to Prue's house before she realized where she was going.

_'Might as well,'_ she thought, with a mental shrug. _'I could use someone to talk to, right now. And if she's not home, I guess I'll just keep walking.'_

Going up the walk to the front steps, she climbed up to the porch and knocked on the front door. When there was no answer, she knocked again, and then turned to leave after a few moments.

_'Guess she's not at home,'_ Paige thought, as she turned to go, and she'd just made it back down the steps when she heard a noise from behind her. Turning, she saw the front door open, and Prue looking at her in surprise.

"Paige, what are you doing here?" Prue asked, and Paige shrugged as she went back up the steps.

"I was in the neighborhood, and I thought we could talk," she said. "If you're busy-"

"What busy?" Prue scoffed, with a laugh, as she pushed the door further open. "I was just about to take a shower. Come on in."

Paige followed Prue into the house, through a set of doors off the side of the foyer into a room made mostly of windows. Sunlight streamed in through the brilliantly sparkling glass. Prue gestured at a wicker couch filled with plump pillows.

"Give me ten minutes," she said, as Paige sank down onto the couch. "You want something to drink, or anything?"

"I'm fine," Paige told her, and then, as Prue left, she leaned back against the back of the wicker couch and closed her eyes, soaking in the late winter sunlight.

True to her word, Prue was back in ten minutes, although Paige didn't know about it until Prue gently shook her shoulder, waking her up from the light doze she'd fallen into.

"Tell me I didn't fall asleep," Paige protested, blinking in the bright sunlight as she tried to clear the cobwebs from her mind.

"You didn't fall asleep," Prue deadpanned. "You were just contemplating the backs of your eyelids."

"Exactly," Paige mumbled, still feeling muzzy from her too-short nap.

"Haven't been sleeping well?" Prue asked, sympathetically, and Paige let out a bitter laugh.

"Try not sleeping at all," she corrected her. "Every time I close my eyes-"

"How are you holding up?" Prue asked, and Paige sighed, heavily.

"Inspector Morgan told me that the case has gone cold," she told Prue, quietly. "They don't have any leads, and they've stopped looking."

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry," Prue said, sounding shocked and angry. "Are you okay?"

"No," Paige admitted, and she hated the way her voice cracked on the word. She dropped her head into her hands, feeling tears fill her eyes. "God, Prue, I'm so tired."

"Paige-" Prue started, helplessly, but Paige wasn't listening to her.

"What if this is my fault?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"This is not your fault," Prue said, firmly, but Paige just shook her head in denial.

"I looked away," she told Prue, her voice catching on a sob. "I should have been watching her, and I looked away."

"This is not your fault," Prue repeated, grabbing Paige by the shoulder and giving her a quick shake to get her attention. "You couldn't have stopped this."

"If I'd just been more careful," Paige started, but Prue shook her head.

"You did everything you could," she protested, vehemently.

"Nick blames me for Pax's disappearance," Paige told her, quietly. "He hasn't said anything, but I can see it in his eyes. Half the time he won't look at me, he's sleeping in another room, and he won't even talk about Pax. It's like she stopped existing for him, once she disappeared."

"That son of a bitch," Prue growled, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Our marriage is just going straight down the drain," Paige said, sadly. "I tried to get him to go to counseling, but he won't even consider it. We're over; all we have to do is sign the papers to make it official."

"You picked a real winner there," Prue muttered, and then she realized what she said, and blushed furiously scarlet. "Sorry. That was uncalled for."

"That's okay," Paige sighed. "You're not thinking anything that I haven't thought for the last couple of weeks."

Prue slung an arm over Paige's shoulders, pulling her against her side in a one-armed hug. Paige slumped against Prue, resting her head on the other woman's shoulders and closing her eyes. Silent tears leaked out from behind her closed eyelids, but she made no effort to stop them. She was just too tired.

She didn't know how long they'd been sitting there when a sound made her open her eyes. Looking toward the sound, she saw an older woman standing in the doorway, watching her and Prue with a worried look on her face.

"Oh, hi, Grams," Prue said, and Paige sat up, pulling away from Prue's arm. "Grams, this is my friend, Paige. Paige, this is Penny Halliwell, my grandmother."

"Paige Matthews, ma'am," Paige introduced herself, shaking the older woman's hand. "Prue, I should probably get going."

Prue nodded, standing with her and pulling her into a tight hug.

"Don't you ever give up," she whispered, fiercely. "You are going to find that little girl, some day. I swear it."

"I hope you're right," Paige replied.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed the first chapter. You guys rock.

* * *

Penny Halliwell would never admit to snooping in her own house, least of all on her granddaughters. But, when she had three strong-willed, high-spirited girls to raise, anything was fair game. After all this time, eavesdropping on her granddaughters was almost second nature, and she'd learned to walk a fine line between knowing what she needed to hear, and ignoring what she didn't.

And hearing her oldest talk to a friend about her kidnapped daughter? That she definitely needed to hear.

She hadn't suspected Prue's friend to be anyone special, just a tragic story that she wanted to do something to help, if she could. After all, what better use for her magic than to find a missing child?

What she hadn't anticipated was meeting the young woman. And she'd certainly never expected to see her daughter's eyes staring out at her from a haunted face. Or, Sam Wilder's stubborn chin, or those high cheekbones that had been a hallmark of the Warren women since Melinda's time.

After all these years, her youngest granddaughter had finally come home.

She'd been shocked to see the young woman standing in her sun room, so shocked that she'd almost blurted the truth out, right there. But, Paige had left before she'd been able to get more than a few words out, and Penny had been left standing, gobsmacked, in the middle of the room, watching her disappear out the front door.

A few discreet questions to Prue had gotten the truth of the story: how Paige's three-year-old daughter had been kidnapped a few weeks earlier, how the police had given up looking for the girl. How Prue was worried about Paige, not having any options left.

Well, there was one option left, and Penny was damn well going to use it. No matter what the cost.

Penny shut the attic door quietly behind her, hearing the latch catch with a soft, barely-audible click. The rest of the house was still and quiet for the night, and she didn't want anything to disturb her granddaughters.

She walked across the attic to the lectern where the Book of Shadows sat, flicking her fingers, idly, telekinetically flipping through the pages. Not that she really needed the Book to perform the spell she wanted; she'd had it memorized for quite some time, now.

She lit nine white taper candles, placing them in a circle in the middle of the floor. Then, she closed her eyes and started chanting, softly.

_"Hear these words, hear my cry,_

_Spirit from the other side._

_Come to me, I summon thee,_

_Cross now the Great Divide."_

White balls of light formed in the air inside the circle, swirling aimlessly for a moment before coalescing into a transparent form. Penny smiled a little sadly at her daughter.

"Hello, darling," she greeted.

"Mother," Patty said, sounding confused. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you, but why did you summon me? We just spoke last night."

"Yes, well," Penny sighed, "a lot has happened since then."

"My girls?" Patty asked, fear in her voice, and Penny spoke quickly to put her mind at ease.

"The girls are fine," she reassured Patty. "Your youngest, however-" She trailed off, shooting Patty a pointed look to make it clear that she wasn't talking about Phoebe. "Darling, you told me that you and Sam hid her somewhere safe. I assumed that you meant somewhere _outside_ of San Francisco."

Patty had the good grace to look sheepish at the gentle rebuke.

"Sam and I," she started, "we were losing our baby girl. Bad enough to have to give her to strangers to raise, to know that she would never be a part of our family. We couldn't stand the thought of having her on the other side of the country, as well."

"You told me-" Penny started, but then she trailed off. What's done was done, and getting angry about it, now, wouldn't help anyone. Least of all that broken young woman she'd met, earlier. "Her name is Paige," she finished, quietly. "She's beautiful, Patty. You should see her."

"You've seen her?" Patty asked, a tremulous note in her voice. "How – how is she?"

"Not good," Penny answered, honestly. "Her daughter was kidnapped three weeks ago."

Patty looked floored, both by the news, and the revelation that Paige even had a child of her own, in the first place.

"Kidnapped?" she echoed, faintly. "You think it was demonic," she went on, after a long moment.

"She is a Halliwell, whether she knows it, or not," Penny pointed out, reasonably. "Taking a child with that kind of potential for power would be a coup for any demon."

"What are we going to do?" Patty asked, a determined glint filling her eyes.

"_We _are going to do nothing," Penny said, sternly. "I am going to go after the child, and then I am going to bring our girls home. For good."

"You're going to transport yourself into the Underworld," Patty said, disbelief clear in her voice. "Mother, it's a suicide mission."

"Not with your help," Penny told her. "Darling, I need to borrow your powers for a little while."

"Oh, of course," Patty said, heavy sarcasm in her voice. "Mother, did you forget that I'm dead?"

"Never," Penny said, softly, closing her eyes briefly at the wave of grief that, even now, twenty years later, snuck up on her and took her by surprise. "No," she went on, when she thought she could talk, again, "I have a spell. It's short-term, but it should get the job done."

"I can't talk you out of this?" Patty asked, although it sounded like she already knew the answer.

"What else would you have me do?" Penny asked, rhetorically. "Should I unbind the girls' powers, tell them about Paige, and their niece, and set them to it? Or, perhaps I should unleash the unknown and potentially volatile powers of a grieving mother and send her into the heart of the Underworld?"

Patty nodded in wordless agreement. "Your spell?" she prompted.

Penny nodded, reaching for the piece of paper that she'd tucked between the pages of the Book. She chanted the spell she'd spent the last couple of hours refining to perfection, and a haze of shimmery light passed from daughter to mother. She gasped as the power filled her, making her skin itch.

She let the piece of paper in her hand fall to the ground, twitching her fingers and watching as the paper froze in mid-air. She nodded in silent satisfaction, turning her attention back to her daughter. Patty was slightly more transparent than before, her eyes dark with worry.

"Be careful," Patty said, softly. "I don't want you joining me."

She disappeared a few seconds later, and Penny snuffed the candles out, one by one. She gently closed the Book, glancing up at the ceiling.

"Leo!" she called, softly, still mindful of her granddaughters sleeping down the hall.

The Whitelighter orbed in, immediately, and the concerned look on his face told Penny that he'd been eavesdropping. Good; it meant that she wouldn't have to waste time catching him up on everything that had been going on.

"I need you to orb me into the Underworld," she said, without preamble, and to his credit, the Whitelighter didn't even blink.

"No."

"Are you going to go after that little girl?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Or, tell her mother that we left her to the mercies of demons?"

"It's dangerous," Leo argued. "You should leave this for other witches."

"Who?" Penny demanded. "Who else is there, Leo? The girls? I can't lay all of this on them. And I'm not going to trust a stranger with my great-granddaughter's life."

"Then, I'll go," Leo said, stubbornly. "I'm pretty invincible, Penny. I've already died once, and barring a Darklighter, they can't hurt me."

But, Penny shook her head. "No," she said, flatly. "You're a pacifist, Leo; you have no offensive powers. And, you'd have no way to track the girl in the Underworld."

"Then, I'm coming with you," Leo said, quickly changing tacks. "You're not going in alone."

"Yes, I am," Penny told him, quietly. "I need you, here. I need to know that my granddaughters are protected, in case something happens."

"Penny-" Leo started, but she wasn't going to let him finish.

"I fully intend to come home with my great-granddaughter, and then bring Paige back to our family," she told Leo, firmly. "But, if the worst happens, I need to know that my girls are safe. _All_ of them."

"What do you want me to do?" Leo asked, with a quiet, resigned sigh.

"If I don't come home," Penny replied, a tremor creeping into her voice at the thought, "you need to hide the Book. Lock it away, somewhere where the girls will never find it. This," she added, tapping a page that she flipped to, "is a permanent power stripping potion. Use it. If I can't be here to protect them, I don't want my girls anywhere near this world of ours. I want them safe."

"And Paige?" Leo asked, a neutral tone in his voice.

"Watch over her," she told him. "Promise me that you will protect her."

"Does that include telling her sisters about her?" Leo asked.

"Do what you think is best," Penny finally answered. "Now-"

Leo nodded, reaching out and taking Penny's arm. He orbed them both into the Underworld, and they ducked into an empty chamber, away from prying eyes and ears.

"Last chance for back-up," Leo offered, keeping his voice quiet, but Penny shook her head.

"Go home, and watch over my girls," she said, softly. "I'll be fine."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. You guys rock.

* * *

Leo stood in the dark attic, in front of the open Book, tears streaming silently down his face. They'd buried Penny, today. He'd failed in his duty as her Whitelighter.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and the pages of the Book started flipping under his hand, coming to rest on the page for a ritual for peace. "There's no peace for me," he muttered, as he turned away from the page, but the Book shook under his hand, the pages turning back to the same ritual. He could almost see Penny standing in front of him, giving him that sharp-eyed look and telling him not to be an idiot.

Relenting, Leo committed the ritual to memory before gently closing the Book. He picked the tome up, opening the steamer trunk under the window with a wave of his hand, and he carefully placed the Book inside. He'd just shut the trunk and stood up, intending to leave the attic and lock it behind him, when a flash of bright lights stopped him in his tracks.

When the trail of orbs cleared, he took a startled step back. Zola and Sandra, two of the higher-ranking Elders, were standing in front of him. And neither of them looked happy to see him.

"Leo," Sandra spoke, without preamble, "we cannot let you do this."

"I'm acting on Penny Halliwell's last wishes," Leo insisted, not even pretending to know what the Elder was referring to. Of course they knew; they knew everything.

"And that wish would take the Charmed Ones away from us, forever," Zola said, gravely. "We cannot allow this."

"She was trying to protect her granddaughters," Leo protested, but the Elders were unmoved.

"And we are trying to protect the world," Sandra told him. "Leo, this is their destiny."

"Who are we to say that?" Leo argued. "Just because they were born witches doesn't mean that it's the only path they have to follow."

"This is always who they were meant to be," Zola replied. "And, we cannot allow you to interfere."

"They're my charges," Leo protested, but the stern look on Zola's face told him that the argument wasn't going to work.

"If you continue to oppose us," he said, quietly, "you will be removed as the Charmed Ones' Whitelighter. They will be assigned to someone else."

"You're saying that the only way to keep my position is to keep my mouth shut," Leo said, flatly. The deafening silence was the only answer he needed. "What about Paige?" he asked, at last.

"She is not a witch, and therefore, not our concern," Zola replied, and Leo was shocked by the Elder's callousness.

"She's a Halliwell," he argued. "That, alone, would make her our concern. She's vulnerable. We have to keep her safe."

"She is not meant to exist," Sandra said, bluntly, and Leo stared at the Elder he'd so respected, in stunned disbelief. "What I mean," Sandra hurried to clarify, before Leo could demand an answer, "is that her birth was still forbidden. If the rest of the Council were to find out about her-" She trailed off, shooting him a meaningful look. "If you truly want to keep her safe, she must remain unknown."

"Meaning that she can't know about her sisters, and they about her," Leo finished, his shoulders slumping.

"And, no," Sandra said, anticipating his next question, "she cannot be assigned to you as your charge. For her own protection, she must stay off the Council's radar. That means no Whitelighter."

"What about her child?" Leo had to ask, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"We do not have the time or resources to devote to the search for one child," Zola said, regret heavy in his voice. "Especially when that search has already claimed Penny Halliwell's life."

"She's been in the clutches of demons for nearly a month-" Leo protested, but Sandra shook her head, cutting him off.

"A month," she echoed, her voice gentle, "is a long time for anyone to survive in the Underworld, let alone a small child."

"Any search party we sent out would be searching for a body," Zola added. "And that's if she's even in the Underworld, at all. There are hundreds of very human monsters that could have gotten the child, as well."

"So, we're just going to give up," Leo said, bitterly. "Condemn a child to Hell."

"A child who is most likely dead," Zola reminded him. "And, Leo, if you attempt to go after the child, yourself, you will be stripped of your wings, and your soul recycled. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Leo said, quietly, watching as both Elders orbed out of the attic. "I understand."

He understood that if he made any move other than that which was approved by the Elders, he would be unable to protect Prue, Piper, Phoebe, and Paige. He understood that he was going to have to move very carefully from now on out, that they were going to be watching his every move.

_'I never wanted to break your rules,'_ he thought, regretfully. _'But I can't just blindly follow, any more. Not if this is what we've come to.'_

His mind made up, Leo took the Book of Shadows out of the steamer trunk and placed it back on the lectern. If he couldn't protect his charges by shielding them from magic, then he was going to protect them by making sure that they grew to their full potential as witches. He had a lot of work to do.

He crept silently out of the attic and down the stairs, and was headed for the kitchen when he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Freeze," he heard someone growl from very close behind him, and he cursed himself for letting whoever it was get the drop on him.

Something pressed up against his back, suddenly, and he froze at the feel of a rounded end poking him in the spine. Then, he flexed his shoulders, experimentally, testing something.

"Is that curling iron?" he asked, curiously.

"No," came the furiously-hissed answer, as the object poked him sharply in the back.

"Yeah, I think that's a curling iron," Leo replied, and he turned around to find a pissed-off Prue Halliwell standing behind him in a short bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers, brandishing the aforementioned curling iron at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Prue demanded, and she looked like she was ready to whack him with the curling iron.

"My name is Leo Wyatt," Leo introduced himself, and Prue's eyes narrowed.

"Wait a minute," she said, suspiciously, "you were at my grandmother's funeral. And I've seen you watching the house since the day she died. What the hell? Are you _stalkin_g us?"

"I can explain," Leo started, but it was clear that Prue wasn't going to listen to him.

"Piper, Phoebe!" she bellowed, her voice shockingly loud in the quiet room. "Get down here!"

Leo sighed as he heard the clattering of feet from over his head, and then Piper and Phoebe came charging down the stairs, Piper squeaking in surprise when she realized that they weren't alone, and that she was clad only in a nightshirt and a pair of shorts.

"Prue, who is that?" Piper demanded, as she grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and wound it around her waist.

"I'm just about to find that out," Prue said, glaring venomously at Leo. "Start talking."

"My name is Leo Wyatt," Leo began, again, with a heavy sigh. "I knew your grandmother."

"How?" Prue demanded, suspiciously, as her sisters gathered close behind her.

"We worked together," Leo answered, evasively, but it was clear that none of the women standing in front of him were going to accept such a vague answer.

"Worked together how?" Piper asked, going to cross her arms over her chest, but changing her mind when she remembered that she was still holding onto the blanket.

Briefly, Leo wondered how angry the Elders were going to be with him if he told the sisters the truth, and then he decided that he didn't care. They were the reason that a little girl was trapped in the Underworld, and her mother would spend the rest of her life grieving her loss and never knowing what really happened. He didn't owe them any loyalties, any more.

_'I might not be able to look out for Paige and her daughter,'_ he thought, _'but I can still watch over her sisters. You can't take my wings away if I'm doing my job.'_

"Penny was a witch," Leo said, bluntly, watching as the women stared at him in shock. "I was her Whitelighter – kind of like a guardian angel."

A stunned silence fell over the room, and then Prue was the first to speak.

"You're crazy," she said, flatly, her eyes hard as she glared at him, "and I'm calling the cops."

Leo sighed; he hadn't thought that it would be that easy. Rather than say anything, though, he simply orbed to the other side of the room. He watched for a moment as the sisters stared at the space where he'd been standing, their jaws dropping open in shock, and then he cleared his throat.

"Over here," he said, quietly, and they spun around to stare at him from where he was standing on the stairs.

"How did you _do_ that?" Phoebe demanded, but her tone was awestruck, rather than accusing,

"Magic," Leo said, simply, ignoring Prue's disbelieving eye roll.

Of course she would be the one to doubt what she'd seen with her own eyes. She'd certainly inherited the stubbornness of all the Warren women to come before her – in spades. But, he needed her to believe him, and soon. Her life, and her sisters' lives, could depend on it.

"Piper, I'm sorry about this," he said, and then, before they could do anything, he gestured with both hands, telekinetically levitating Piper a few feet into the air.

Piper shrieked in surprise and clutched the blanket to her chest, glaring at him. Leo held her up in the air for several seconds, long enough for Prue and Phoebe to see that there were no wires attached to Piper, and then he set her gently back on the ground. His arms were shaking from the effort he'd exerted; he wasn't used to using his powers to lift another person, even for just a short time.

"Magic," Prue echoed, at last, a disbelieving tone in her voice.

"Magic," Leo repeated. Turning, he started to walk up the stairs to the attic, and when he reached the first landing, he looked back down at the women who were staring up at him in amazement. "Well? Are you coming, or not?"

They scrambled up the stairs after him, and Leo led them into the attic and over to where the Book was resting, illuminated by a beam of moonlight that was coming in through the picture window.

"Your mother was a witch," Leo told them, as they stopped by the Book. "As was your grandmother, and hers, and countless generations of Warren women before you. This is the Book of Shadows; it's the culmination of their magic, the legacy that's been passed down to you for over seven hundred years."

"This is amazing," Phoebe whispered, tracing her fingers lightly over the woodcut etching on the page.

Despite herself, Prue had also drawn closer to the Book, staring down at it with something like fascination on her face. Leo waited for Piper to do the same thing, only to find the young woman giving him a hard look.

"What?" he asked, when she just kept staring at him.

"Next time," she said, icily, "pick someone else to be your guinea pig."

"I didn't mean-" Leo protested, but Piper had left him to join her sisters at the Book. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath, seeing his plan going down in flames with two of the sisters mad at him.

"Look at this," Phoebe was saying, excitedly. "Doesn't this look like some kind of spell?"

"Bring your power to we sisters, three," Prue read out loud, glancing up to meet Leo's eyes. "All right, I'll bite. What does this thing do?"

"What do you think it does?" Leo asked, neutrally.

Prue looked back down at the Dominus Trinus spell, her eyes flicking across the page as she read the whole entry.

"It bestows powers," she finally said. "Us? We're the sisters, three?"

"Your ancestor, Melinda Warren, was burned at the stake for being a witch," Leo told them. "Before she died, she made a prophecy that her powers would pass down through the generations of her bloodline, until three sisters were born. You three."

"Why us?" Piper asked, suspiciously. "There have been other sisters in our family tree, haven't there?"

"But none with your powers, your connection," Leo replied. "You are the Charmed Ones, the witches that Melinda Warren foresaw in her final premonition."

"You're crazy," Prue stated, shaking her head.

"Only one way to find out," Leo shot back. He gestured to the Book, which was still open to the Dominus Trinus spell. "Well? What are you waiting for?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. You guys rock.

* * *

In the four months since she and her sisters had become witches, they'd faced two ghosts, five demons, nearly a dozen warlocks, and even a couple of incredibly determined and resourceful mortals. But, none of that was as terrifying as what Prue was about to do.

She knocked briskly on the front door of the huge mansion that Paige and Nick lived in, biting back the automatic scowl that threatened to emerge when Nick answered the door.

"What do you want?" he snapped, and Prue had to resist the urge to use her power to throw him through the nearest wall. As satisfying as it would have been in the short term, it would have raised far too many questions that she wasn't really sure how to answer.

"I'm here to see Paige," Prue told him.

"Not here," Nick said, with a shrug, a smirk tugging at his lips that Prue was just dying to slap off his face.

_'You arrogant son of a bitch,'_ she thought, furiously, fighting to keep her expression neutral. "Her car's in the driveway. Where is she?"

Before Nick could lie to her, again, Paige stepped out from behind her husband, a resigned expression on her face as she took in the pair squaring off over the doorframe.

"Nick, just go back inside," she said, with a quiet sigh, and Nick glared viciously at Prue before he stormed off, his footsteps echoing through the house.

"Sorry about that," Paige said, as she gently closed the front door behind her and sat down on the front steps. "I'd invite you inside," she added, as Prue joined her on the steps, "but I don't think that's a good idea, right now."

Prue glanced over at her friend, gasping in shock as she saw the black eye that Paige was sporting. She reached out and gently brushed her fingers against the dark bruise, rage rising inside her at the way Paige tried not to flinch away from her touch.

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," she growled, and Paige sighed, wrapping her fingers around Prue's wrist and pulling her hand down.

"I'm fine," she said, earning a sharp look from Prue in the process.

"You are not fine," Prue snapped, angrily. "He hit you, Paige. That is not _fine_."

"I don't know that he hit me," Paige replied, quietly. "I don't remember what happened. All I know is that I woke up with a black eye, this morning, and Nick told me that I ran into the doorway last night before bed."

"He helped you into the doorway, more like it," Prue shot back. "Paige-"

"You're not going to have to worry about it for much longer," Paige interrupted her, clearly not willing to continue with their current topic of conversation. "Nick and I are getting a divorce."

"You are?" Prue asked, feeling hope spring up in her chest at the thought of her friend getting away from the monster she'd married.

"All that's left is the paperwork," Paige told her. "Once we sign that, I'm no longer a married woman. And Nick, if he's hitting me, is not going to touch me, again."

"_If_ he's hitting you?" Prue demanded, incredulously, but Paige cut her off before she could take that thought any further.

"Why are you here, Prue?" she asked. "I doubt you came over just to talk. We're both too busy for that, these days."

Prue winced at the unintentional reminder of how magic had cut into her time with her friends, how her relationships outside her family had suffered in the fight against evil. But, she was here, today, because she was hoping that magic would be able to help her get a little bit of that, back.

"I need a lock of Pax's hair," she said, gently. "Yours, too."

"Why?" came the immediate, incredulous question that Prue had so been hoping that Paige wouldn't ask.

For a moment she toyed with telling Paige the truth about why she needed the hair. But, she didn't want to get her hopes up. She didn't even know if Paige would believe her about magic.

So, she looked her best friend in the face and lied to her.

"It's for that scrapbook I've been working on," she said. "I'm almost finished; I just need a few more things to add to it."

"Oh," Paige said, softly, pain flashing ever so quickly across her face. "Um, yeah, sure. I think I've got a lock of Pax's hair in her baby book."

"I don't need a lot," Prue said, reassuringly. "Just a little bit."

"Let me go grab the book," Paige replied, standing and going into the house. She reappeared a couple of minutes later, a pastel pink scrapbook cradled in her arms. "Here we go. One lock of hair."

Flipping open the book, Paige stopped on the second page and opened a small paper envelope that was glued near the top. She took out a lock of dark hair, separating it in half and handing one half to Prue. Prue wrapped the hair carefully in a plastic bag that she'd stored in her pocket.

"And I need some of yours, too," she added, hoping that Paige wasn't going to demand an explanation.

Luckily for her, Paige just wrapped a few strands of her long hair around her fingers and tugged, handing Prue her hair.

"I should probably get going," Prue said, as she tucked Paige's hair into another baggie. "I'll get you the scrapbook when I'm finished with it, okay?" _'And something much greater,'_ she vowed, silently.

* * *

"I need your help with a spell."

Piper looked up from the restaurant's ledgers she had spread across the dining room table, and Phoebe poked her head in from the living room.

"Demon hunt?" she asked, curiously, but Prue shook her head.

"Not a demon hunt," she said. "This is something – something else."

"Something else?" Phoebe echoed, with a slow grin spreading across her face. "Do my ears deceive me, or is Prue Halliwell proposing to use magic for personal gain?"

"It's not personal gain," Prue protested, automatically. "I'm – we're – doing this for someone else."

"I don't know that it works like that," Piper insisted, but Prue ignored her.

"I wrote a spell," she went on. "But, I think we need the Power of Three to cast it."

"What kind of spell is this, exactly?" Piper demanded, as she and Phoebe followed Prue up the stairs to the attic.

"My friend Paige's daughter was kidnapped almost six months ago," Prue told them, getting horrified gasps from her sisters. "I want to use the Power of Three to summon her back from wherever she was taken."

"Prue-" Piper started, after a moment, but Prue brusquely cut her off.

"Don't tell me not to do this," she pleaded, quietly. "I have to do this; I have to try."

"Are we even allowed to write our own spells?" Phoebe spoke up, changing the subject to something slightly less volatile. "I mean, we haven't even been witches for six months."

"We've got to start somewhere, right?" Prue replied. "Mom, Grams, all of the women before us would have added to the Book of Shadows. Melinda Warren even began the Book. We're just continuing a long and proud tradition."

"Where's the spell?" Piper asked, after a moment, and Prue passed her and Phoebe small scraps of paper.

"I cobbled together a ritual," Prue explained, as she gestured to a low table that she'd set up in the middle of the attic. "There's a spell to call a lost witch, and I borrowed some elements from that, and from the spell to summon a blood ancestor. I changed some things to account for the fact that we're calling for someone else's relative."

"Do you have something from the little girl?" Phoebe asked, as they seated themselves around the table.

"Hair," Prue answered, promptly, pulling the baggies out of her pocket. "A lock from Pax, the little girl, and one from her mother. We ready?"

"What are you going to do if this works?" Piper asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Prue said, confused. "If this works, we reunite a kidnapped child with her mother."

"Yeah," Piper replied, "and what are you going to tell her mother when she wants to know how you found her kid? Do you really expect her to believe that you found her wandering around on the street, or whatever you can come up with?"

"I'm not going to come up with anything," Prue said, as she avoided her sisters' gazes. "If this works, I'm going to tell Paige everything. Magic, witches, the whole nine yards."

"Are you sure that's a smart move?" Piper asked, delicately.

"Paige is my best friend," Prue told them, firmly. "I trust her with this. I promise you, she won't tell a soul."

"If you're sure," Piper said, a doubtful tone in her voice, but she still reached out and took Prue's free hand.

"I'm sure," Prue said, vehemently.

"One more thing," Phoebe said, quietly, before they could begin the ritual. "What if it doesn't work?"

"It will," Prue said, stubbornly, not willing to dwell on any other possibility. "It has to."

They linked hands, chanting the spell that Prue had written.

_"Bring together mother and child,  
Separated across the miles.  
Every rock and stone, look under,  
Let love not be torn asunder."_

Then, Prue freed a hand to sprinkle Paige's and Pax's hair into the chalice in the center of the table. Phoebe lit a match and let it fall into the herbs and hair mixed in the chalice, and they waited with bated breath for the flame to go out. When the flame died down, Prue's shoulders visibly slumped as she looked around at the empty attic.

"I'm sorry," Piper said, sympathetically, and Prue sighed.

"I guess it was a long shot," she said, sadly. "I was just really hoping that it would work, you know?"

"What are you going to do, now?" Phoebe asked, but Prue couldn't answer. She had no idea what to say.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

After Prue had left, Paige couldn't face the thought of going back into the house. She didn't want to rattle around the empty house with only Nick, and his increasingly hostile attitude, for company. So, she closed her eyes and thought of being somewhere else, somewhere where no one would find her, or be able to disturb her.

There was a moment of weightlessness, and when she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere completely different.

Paige allowed herself a small smile of triumph. It had been only a few weeks since she'd discovered that she could do the same disappearing trick that Pax had been capable of, and she'd only used the ability, herself, less than half a dozen times. Henry had started calling the power orbing, from the way she seemed to disintegrate into bright, white balls of light when she traveled. When she'd protested, he'd told her that it was at least accurate, and that calling it teleporting, or something similar, made it sound like she'd just stepped off the Starship Enterprise.

_'Like I'm actually going to be talking to anyone, to be able to actually name this thing,'_ she thought, wryly.

Paige walked for a little bit through the copse of trees that she'd orbed into, and she felt a pang in her heart when she realized that she was in the forest bordering the Children's Playground – the last place she'd seen her daughter.

Paige closed her eyes against the wave of grief that threatened to swamp her, struggling to regain control of her wild emotions. When she finally opened her eyes, she found herself staring at a little girl with dark hair and brilliant green eyes.

"Pax," she whispered, stunned.

She took a slow step forward, as if in a dream, and then a group of chattering women moved between her and Pax, blocking her view of her daughter. Paige was jolted out of the reverie she'd fallen into, and she pushed past the women to where she'd seen Pax standing.

Her little girl was gone, again.

"Pax!" she screamed, sprinting forward and pushing her way through the crowd of parents and kids that filled the playground. A distant sense of déjà vu hit her as she ran, reminding her of the first time she'd lost her daughter.

_'Not again,'_ she vowed, silently. _'I'm not going to lose her, again.'_

She looked wildly around, catching a glimpse of dark hair moving away from her, and she ran in that direction.

"Pax!" she yelled, again.

The little girl was still moving ahead of her, and now there was a tall black man wearing white holding onto her, hurrying her along. He swung Pax up onto his hip when she didn't move fast enough, and Pax looked back at her, green eyes meeting hazel. Her entire world froze for a single heartbeat.

"Mama!" Pax cried, her voice carrying across the expanse between them.

"Pax!" Paige screamed, desperately. "Someone stop that man! He's got my daughter!"

She could see people reacting to her words, and the fear in her voice. Some of the people around her even moved to stop the man holding Pax. But, they didn't get more than a few feet near the man before they turned away, seeming to not even see the kidnapping taking place right under their noses.

"Pax!" Paige yelled, as she pushed her way through the crowds, not caring who she elbowed out of her way.

Pax cried out for her, again, her arms stretching for Paige over the man's shoulders. Paige doubled her efforts to get to her daughter, but for a moment, she lost sight of Pax and her abductor in the crowd. And when she could see, again, they were gone.

"No," she growled, furiously, looking around. "Not again; please not again."

She kept running, but her daughter, and the man who'd taken her, had disappeared. They were nowhere to be found, and none of the people she'd talked to had seen anyone who looked like either of them.

Desperate, Paige ducked into the first secluded spot that she could find, concentrating on the police station on the other side of town. It was further than she'd ever gone, but she didn't think about that; she just thought about Henry, and the overwhelming urge to see him right that second.

She was lucky; she orbed into an office that Henry told her had been standing empty for a while, now, and it looked like no one had filled it, yet. She snuck out into the hallway, going to the bullpen where Henry's desk was. He looked up from his work as she neared the area, as though he could sense her standing there, and when she nodded back toward the hallway, he stood up and joined her.

"I saw her, Henry," she said, urgently, when he reached her side. "I saw Pax."

"Let's go back here," Henry said, softly, leading her back to the same empty office that she'd first orbed into. "All right, say that again."

"I saw Pax," Paige repeated, forcing herself to calm down. "Henry, I saw her in the park; she was there, I swear it."

"I believe you," Henry told her, quietly, and it felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Someone took her away from me, again," Paige told him, feeling tears spring to her eyes. "Henry, I lost her, again."

"Not for long," Henry vowed. "Paige, I swear, I'm going to help you find her. No matter what it takes."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," a new voice said, from behind them.

Paige whirled around, her eyes narrowing when she saw the tall black man standing in the middle of the room.

"You," she growled, practically shaking with fury. "You took my daughter, you son of a bitch!"

She howled in rage as she lunged at the man, but he simply held out a hand, an invisible force slamming into her and knocking her backward. Only Henry's quick reflexes as he wrapped his arms around her kept her from falling to the floor.

"Where is she?" Paige demanded, her voice hoarse. "Where the hell is my little girl?"

"Somewhere you can never follow," the man told her, gravely. "I'm sorry, but you're never going to see your daughter, again. It's for the Greater Good."

"What are you talking about?" Henry snapped, when Paige couldn't find her voice. "Give me one good reason that I shouldn't arrest you and throw you into a jail cell for the rest of your life."

"I'm afraid that I can't let you do that," the man repeated, his voice maddeningly quiet.

"Give me back my daughter," Paige snarled, feeling a cold rage rise up within her. There was a buzzing underneath her skin, and she felt like something was threatening to explode inside her.

"She is a necessary sacrifice," the man told her.

Then, before either Paige or Henry could do anything, the man held his hand out in front of him, and the world disappeared in front of her eyes…

Paige blinked in confusion, looking at Henry, who looked just as baffled as she was.

"What are you doing here?" Henry asked, and Paige snorted in disbelief, smacking him lightly on the shoulder.

"Gee, thanks," she retorted, "it's great to see you, too."

Then, she noticed Henry flinching away from her at the same time that she saw flashes of light on her hands. She stared, wonderingly, at the tiny lightning bolts that played over the surface of her skin, sparking brightly in the semi-dark room.

"You shocked me," Henry was saying, and then his voice trailed off in stunned amazement as he caught sight of her hands. "Um, that's new."

"You're telling me," Paige replied, faintly.

She stretched her hand out, and Henry took a big step backwards, holding his hands up as if to ward her off.

"Keep those hands to yourself, lady," he told her, and Paige shot him an exasperated look.

"I don't know how I'm doing it!" she protested, but Henry shook his head.

"Don't care," he told her, succinctly. "I don't want you touching me until you've stopped glowing like a Christmas tree."

"I'm not glowing," Paige muttered, under her breath, unconsciously crossing her arms across her chest and then wincing when she shocked herself.

"So, since you're here," Henry said, fighting to hide a smirk at the way she'd just inadvertently electrocuted herself, "do you want to go out to lunch? Once you've stopped sparking, I mean?"

"Very funny," Paige retorted. "I wish I could remember why I came to see you," she added, a moment later. "I feel like I'm forgetting something big."

"Yeah," Henry replied. "I know what you mean."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are great.

* * *

"Where's the girl?"

Zola looked up at the sound of Leo's voice, barely masking his surprise at the sight of the angry Whitelighter bearing down on him. The younger man was practically shaking with rage, his eyes hard and cold.

"I beg your pardon?" Zola asked, softly, raising an eyebrow at Leo as the Whitelighter stopped in front of him, hoping that his tone got the younger man to think before he spoke, again.

Then, again, this _was_ Leo.

"Where is she?" Leo repeated, stubbornly, not hearing, or just ignoring, the warning in Zola's voice.

"Who?" Zola asked, deliberately being obtuse.

"Paxton Matthews," Leo gritted out. "Paige's daughter. Where is she?"

"How am I supposed to know that?" Zola bluffed, getting a glare in return. "The child was kidnapped, remember? It's been six months; she's probably dead by now."

"Don't give me that crap," Leo snapped, his tone, and his choice of words, getting the attention of the Whitelighters around them. He ignored them, focusing solely on Zola.

"The child-" Zola started, but Leo never let him finish.

"The Charmed Ones performed a summoning spell," he informed Zola. "Her blood relatives. There is no way that it wouldn't have worked; no way that the child wouldn't have been brought safely into their arms. There are very few beings capable of interfering with a spell like that, and you're one of them. So, where is the child?"

"Somewhere else," Zola said, calmly, and then before Leo could say anything, he went on, "I remember giving you explicit orders to stay away from Paige Matthews, and to leave the child alone. You disappoint me, Leo."

"You can't just expect me to drop this," Leo hissed, furiously.

"I not only expect it," Zola told him, "I'm demanding it. You will stay far, far away from Paige Matthews and her child, or I will see your wings clipped and your soul recycled. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Leo said, a bitter tone in his voice.

Satisfied that he'd made his point, Zola orbed away, grimacing in distaste as he reformed in the Underworld.

"Care to tell me why I'm meeting you down here?" he said out loud, to the empty cavern.

A low, throaty chuckle came from the corner, and he watched as a shadow detached from the wall to form into Cheryl Long.

"Home field advantage, of course," she said, raising an eyebrow at the Elder. "You don't honestly think that I'm going to meet you up above, where your power is at its strongest?"

"Why did you call me down here?" Zola demanded, and the demon gave him a humorless smile.

"Just wanted to make sure you were holding up your end of the bargain," Cheryl told him.

"I kidnapped an innocent child and gave her to you," Zola snarled, furiously, glaring at the demon. "I had a chance to reunite her with her family, but I went against everything I believe in to protect the Greater Good. What more do you want from me?"

"I corrupted an Elder, even if only for a moment," Cheryl said, with a smirk. "What more do I need?"

"I want to see the girl," Zola said, brusquely.

"Why?" Cheryl asked, suspiciously.

"You promised me that the girl would come to no harm," Zola reminded her. "I simply want to ensure that you're keeping that promise."

Cheryl rolled her eyes, but she waved her hand, making the air between them shimmer with energy. An image began to form in the air, and quickly cleared to show a man and a small child. The child had tears streaking down her face.

"Sound," Zola snapped, his eyes fixed on the image of the child in front of him.

"Demanding, aren't you?" Cheryl smirked, but she complied with his request.

_"I want Mama!" _the girl was wailing, and the sound lanced straight through Zola's heart.

_"Your mother is dead!" _the man snarled, and the girl's face crumpled as she sobbed, wildly.

"Seen enough?" Cheryl asked, dryly, another wave of her hand banishing the image in the air. "I assure you, Elder, the child will come to no harm with us. Properly groomed, she could well become our next Source."

"To corrupt a Whitelighter's child for evil-" Zola said, disgust in his voice.

"And you helped me do it," Cheryl reminded him, with a laugh. "The Underworld owes you a boon of thanks, do-gooder."

"What about our deal?" Zola demanded, ignoring the demon's taunting. "If I gave you the girl, you swore that you and your children would leave the Charmed Ones alone."

"Yes, yes," Cheryl said, languidly waving her hand, a bored tone in her voice. "Our deal. Don't worry; your precious Charmed Ones are safe from me and mine. I don't want to lose any of my children to those witches, anyway. You, on the other hand-"

She let her voice trail off, making Zola narrow his eyes at her, suspiciously.

"What about me?" Zola demanded.

"Well, it's just that you're a liability," Cheryl informed him, an almost apologetic tone in her voice. "I admit, it was fun – exhilarating, you might say – having an Elder under my thumb. But, as compliant and helpful as you've been, at the end of the day, you're still one of the good guys, and I just can't take the chance that you're going to have a crisis of conscience over what you've done. If I want my plans to grow to fruition, I can't have you sending your witches after me. I'm afraid that you're a loose end that simply must be tied."

"You can't keep me down here," Zola growled, but Cheryl laughed at him, again.

"Oh, I have no intention of keeping you here," she told him, snapping her fingers, sharply.

Zola started at the crack of sound that echoed across the cavern. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see several figures entering the cavern to surround him, and he tensed up.

"I really am sorry," Cheryl said, with a shrug. "If it helps, it's nothing personal."

Zola took a step forward, and then stopped at a stabbing pain that shot through his chest. He collapsed as he stared down at the Darklighter's bolt sticking out of his chest, and then he looked up at the young woman standing over him holding a crossbow, a smirk on her face.

"Don't die too quickly, Elder," she said, prodding him with her foot. "My brothers and I want to have some fun, first."

* * *

A week after his confrontation with Zola, Leo found himself being summoned to the Heavens, again. When he orbed up there, he found himself facing an unusually-somber looking Sandra, and he got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The feeling only increased when he took in the mournful demeanor of the other Whitelighters around him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, immediately, and Sandra sighed.

"Zola's dead," she told him, quietly, but Leo didn't feel the grief that was being displayed by his colleagues. Instead, he only felt regret and anger.

"And with him, our only chance to get Paige's daughter, back," he said. "Damn it," he growled, slamming a closed fist into his free hand.

"Calm down, Leo," Sandra said, but Leo shot her a withering glare.

"I'm failing my charges," he snapped, angrily. "How can I possibly be calm?"

"Paige Matthews isn't your charge," Sandra reminded him, but her protest didn't have any real heat behind it.

"I want her as my charge," Leo told her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Leo-" Sandra started, but he wasn't going to let the Elder finish.

"Don't give me that crap about protecting her," he growled, keeping his voice low so that no one else could hear him. "We are the reason her daughter is in Hell. That is as far from protecting as you can get."

Sandra sighed, but didn't make any protest to his comment.

"She's half Whitelighter," Leo went on, softly. "She'll earn her wings, one day, no doubt about it. Let me watch over her. Protect her like I should have been for her entire life."

"I'll make it official," Sandra finally agreed. Leo didn't bother telling her that he'd been unofficially watching over Paige as best he could for the last four months. Some things were better kept secret.

"Thank you," he said, his shoulders slumping with relief as a little bit of the tension he'd been carrying around dissipated.

"The same restrictions still hold, though," Sandra warned him, quickly. "She needs to stay off the Council's radar, and that means that she cannot know about her sisters, nor they about her. She can't be anyone special."

"Just another future Whitelighter," Leo promised her.

He orbed away to where he could sense Paige, emerging in an alleyway near an apartment building. Going into the building, he rode the elevator up the fourth floor, and walked down the hallway until he reached an open door halfway down the hallway. Poking his head in, he saw Paige standing in the middle of the apartment, surrounded by boxes. A tall man with messy, brown hair was stretched out on the couch, his feet kicked up on the back.

"It was nice that furnishings came with the apartment," he was saying.

"Yeah, because I can't afford even a folding chair, right now," Paige replied. "I love my new job, but I didn't exactly go into social work for the money."

"Well, if you'd contest the divorce," the man argued, and then he trailed off when he caught sight of Leo hovering in the doorway. "Can I help you?"

"Just moved in?" Leo asked, rather than answering, and Paige nodded, after a moment.

"Finalized the last of the paperwork, this morning," she told him. "Do you live in the building?"

"Leo Wyatt," he introduced himself, once again evading the question as she shook the hand he held out.

"Yeah, I guess that was kind of a stupid question," Paige said, with a self-depreciating chuckle. "I'm Paige Matthews. The lazy one is Henry Mitchell."

"I am not lazy," Henry immediately protested.

"You've been sitting on that couch for the past fifteen minutes," Paige pointed out.

"Because those boxes are heavy," Henry told her, with a hint of a whine in his voice. "Do you even know how many pairs of shoes you own?"

"Not nearly enough," came the prompt reply. "Now, be nice. We're ignoring my new neighbor. Sorry about that," she added, to Leo.

"Don't worry about it," Leo said, with a shrug. "Anyway, I just thought I'd stop by and say hello. I'm pretty good with a wrench," he added, digging into the pocket of his jeans for the business cards he'd had made to further his handyman cover with his charges. "If you ever need anything, feel free to give me a call."

"Thanks," Paige said, pocketing the card, "I will."

"I should probably be going," Leo said, nodding at the door.

He'd seen for himself that Paige was all right, and he couldn't think of any further reasons to stick around without seeming weird. And from what he'd seen over the last few months, Henry was certainly a formidable bodyguard in his absence. He felt safe leaving Paige with the other man, knowing that he was entrusting her to good hands.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

_**May 17, 2001 (The first time around)**_

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Did you see the news?"

Paige finished typing up the last of her report and hit save before she turned her attention to Lila. The younger woman was practically bouncing in place, shaking with excitement.

"See what news?" Paige asked, calmly.

In answer, Lila grabbed her hand and dragged her out from behind her desk. They stopped in the break room, where nearly all of the clinic's staff was gathered, including Cowen, to Paige's surprise. She didn't think that anything short of a fire was important enough to get the older man to stop working in the middle of the day.

"What's going on?" Paige murmured, as Lila pushed their way through the crowd to the small television on the folding table.

The television was blaring a special, mid-day news report, and Paige watched in mild interest for a few seconds. Then, her jaw dropped open in shock.

"Oh, my god," she gasped. "Prue?"

Her friend was featured larger than life on the television, alongside one of her sisters, and the two of them were using magical powers. Paige watched, open-mouthed, as a tall, gray man in ragged robes threw a ball of bright energy at Prue and her sister, Prue deflecting the energy ball with a wave of her hand. Then, her sister waved her hands at the man, making him explode.

Paige stared at the screen, completely speechless for several more seconds, and then she turned and went back to her desk. Her hands were shaking as she reached for her cell phone, scrolling through the phone book until she found Henry's number.

"Hey," she said, when he answered the phone. "Did you see the news?"

"How could I not?" came the reply. "It would seem that Prue has been holding out on us."

"Yeah, because I've been so soul-baringly honest with her," Paige retorted, wryly. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to go and see Prue," Henry told her, "and we're going to tell her that we love and support her. And then we're going to ask what the hell she was thinking by blowing a man up on live television."

"I'll meet you outside South Bay in fifteen," Paige said, getting agreement from Henry.

"We'll use your car," he told her. It'll be easier to get through the crowds around Prue's house."

Fifteen minutes later, they were parked down the street from the old Victorian manor that Prue and her sisters lived in.

"I don't think we're getting through those crowds," Paige remarked, as the car idled on the side of the street. "And, I don't want to risk trying to orb into Prue's house. We might get seen, and Prue's sister with the hands might try to blow us up."

"Cell phone, it is," Henry declared, while Paige shut the car off. He dialed Prue, putting his phone on speaker. "Hey, stranger."

"Henry?" Prue asked, her voice tinny over the connection. "Henry, what are you doing?"

"What? We can't call and check on you?" Henry asked.

"Who's we?" Prue started, but then she stopped, as if the answer should be obvious. "Hey, Paige."

"Hey, yourself," Paige returned. "How are you?"

"Oh, you know," Prue said, breezily. "Just living the dream-"

"Yeah, try that one on someone who didn't see the news," Henry broke in, cutting Prue off. "Want to answer that question, again?"

There was a heavy sigh, and then Prue admitted, "My day kind of sucks, right now."

"Are you okay?" Paige asked, concerned.

"Physically, yeah," Prue admitted. "I mean, none of us are hurt, and the crowd of gawkers outside our door has mostly left us alone, but-"

"But?" Henry prompted, when Prue fell silent.

"But, I would give anything to be anywhere that isn't here, right now," Prue finally finished, sounding suddenly exhausted.

"We can always arrange that," Paige offered, shooting Henry a look. She could see that he agreed with her; if Prue wanted, they'd move heaven and earth to help her.

"No, wherever I go, someone's bound to find me," Prue replied, after a moment. "Running away from this isn't going to solve anything." She was silent for several long seconds, and then she asked, softly, "Are you guys okay with this? With me? The magic?"

"Sweetie, we love you," Paige said, without even needing to think about it. "No matter what."

"Ditto," Henry echoed. "We love you, warts and all."

"I do not have warts," Prue protested, indignantly. "Paige, um, I've got something that I need to tell you."

"Me, too," Paige replied. "But, you first."

"I –" Prue started, and then she broke off, her breathing shaky. "I'm a witch," she said, in a rush. "And, after I first got my powers, I tried to do this spell – it was a lost and found spell, but it didn't work."

"What were you looking for?" Paige prompted, and from Prue's sigh, she had been hoping not to hear that question.

"Pax," she finally answered, quietly. "I was trying to find Pax."

Paige blinked, squeezing Henry's hand as she wiped away the tears in her eyes. "Thank you," she murmured, and from the silence on the other end of the line, Prue was surprised at her response.

"Thank you?" she echoed, incredulously. "But, it didn't work," Prue protested, feebly, and Paige allowed herself a small smile.

"Thank you," she repeated, emphatically. "You tried to bring my little girl home to me. For that, I can never repay you."

"Paige," Prue started, hesitantly, but Paige wasn't going to let her finish what was clearly going to be some kind of guilty confession.

"My turn," she declared, forced gaiety in her voice. "So, you're not the only one who's been hiding magical powers."

Her bluntness stunned Prue into silence for several long seconds, and then Prue asked, "Excuse me?"

"Powers," Paige repeated. "I've got them."

More silence, like Prue was trying to come to terms with what she'd just learned. "You're a witch?" she finally managed to get out.

"If that's what it's called, then, yeah, I guess," Paige replied.

"She electrocutes people," Henry butted in, and Paige elbowed him in the side, none too gently.

"I do not electrocute people!" she protested. "Stop putting ideas in Prue's head."

"I already have ideas about you, Missy," Prue teased, and Paige could hear the smile in her voice.

She started to say something else, but then she was cut off by a distant voice. Paige heard a faint sound as Prue covered the phone with her hand, and then the muffled sound of her voice. She came back a few seconds later.

"I've got to go," she said, apologetically. "But, we're not done talking about this, Paige. Not by a long shot."

"I didn't think we were," Paige replied. "Talk to you later; be careful, Prue, okay?"

"Yeah," Henry added. "There are a lot of whack jobs out there. Promise me that you and your sisters will stay away from the windows, at least while your house is surrounded by the paparazzi."

"We'll be careful," Prue promised. "I love you, guys."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock. I know this chapter is a little short, but I'm hoping the impact makes up for it.

* * *

Prue hung up the phone, looking over toward Piper, who was pacing anxiously across the conservatory.

"Hey, away from the windows," she scolded, as she slipped her phone into her pocket. "You never know what one of those people is going to pull, especially after that nut job broke into the house, earlier."

"Oh, come on," Piper said, dismissively. "No one's shooting at us. Besides, I can freeze bullets, remember?"

"Piper, that's not funny," Prue said, and her sister shot her a tight, humorless smile.

"We've been exposed to the world as witches, we're prisoners in our own home, and Phoebe and Leo are stuck in the Underworld with no way to know how screwed we are," Piper reminded her. "Nothing about this situation is funny."

"Still," Prue said, gesturing, "get away from the windows. Just in case."

Piper sighed, but complied with Prue's request. She had her arms wrapped around her torso, a pensive expression on her face as she continued her pacing in the foyer.

"Leo and Phoebe are going to be fine," Prue said, soothingly, but Piper just shot her a look.

"They're in Hell, surrounded by demons," Piper shot back, her voice sharp. "They're making a deal with the Source of All Evil – and the last time we were in this position, we were willing to let you die, rather than deal with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which should tell you just how freaking _dire_ this whole situation is – and the Source could kill them both at any time. How is any of that _fine_?"

"We have to trust that Phoebe and Leo know what they're doing," Prue told her. "As loathe as I am to say it, we also have to trust that Cole can protect them. We have to trust that everything is going to be okay."

Piper gave her a shaky smile. "I don't know if I have that much faith," she replied, softly.

"Change of subject," Prue declared, abruptly. "You were talking about talk shows, before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"I think we should do a couple," Piper told her, with a slow smile. "Maybe a book deal – oh, and you know that someone is going to want to make a movie about all of this."

"A television series," Prue corrected her. "Just think about it. Week after week, millions of people tuning in to see the adventures of three sisters who fight evil."

"And then, once our fifteen minutes of fame are up," Piper sighed, "we'll be dissected by the CIA."

"So, we'll milk our celebrity while we've got it," Prue said, flippantly. "Enjoy our lives before they're over." She punctuated her statement with a brisk snap of her fingers. Then, she frowned when Piper stumbled forward, suddenly, a surprised look on her face. "Piper?"

"I – I hurt-" Piper stammered, and then she collapsed into Prue's arms, dark, sticky blood covering her hands.

"Leo!" Prue screamed, but there was no answer. The Whitelighter was in the Underworld, and he couldn't hear her. "Leo!"

* * *

Prue sat in the dark hospital room, staring down at Piper's lifeless body. Her hands were still covered in her sister's blood.

"I'm going to fix this," she whispered, her voice hoarse, as she wrapped her bloody hands around Piper's cold fingers. "Once time is reset-"

She was cut off by a bright light forming in the center of the room, and she looked up, hopefully, to see Leo standing there. He looked around for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, and then his gaze landed on Piper. Horror flashed across his face as he rushed to his wife's side, a choked sob torn from his throat as he ran a shaky hand across her hair.

"Why?" he gasped, a pleading look in his eyes as he silently demanded an explanation from Prue.

"They killed her, Leo," Prue told him, tears choking her voice. "After all we've given up to protect them, after everything we've lost, everything we've sacrificed – they think we're the demons, now."

"I'm so sorry," Leo whispered, brokenly, brushing a kiss across Piper's forehead, carefully closing her unseeing eyes with a shaking hand. "I'm so sorry."

"Did the Source agree to the deal?" Prue asked him, brusquely. "Can we fix this?"

"Yes," Leo said, slowly, "but-"

"No buts," Prue told him, pressing her lips into a tight line as she struggled not to cry. "Just do it. Whatever it takes. We can't lose her, Leo. We can't-"

Leo nodded, orbing away a moment later. Prue bent and kissed Piper's forehead, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Leo's going to fix this, you'll see," she said, tearfully. "You're going to be fine. I promise."

* * *

_**May 17, 2001 (after the time reset)**_

_"Hey, you've reached Paige, leave a message-"_ The voicemail message was interrupted by a sudden burst of breathless laughter. _"Henry! Stop tickling me! Geez, you're like a little kid."_

Henry, when he came on, sounded completely innocent. _"I'm not doing anything. I'm all the way over here."_

_"You're a dork,"_ Paige scolded him, and Prue could just about see her rolling her eyes. _"Anyway, this is Paige, leave a message at the beep. And ignore the idiot; God knows I try to. Henry, I have to erase this, I can't use this as my voicemail-"_

A beep cut off the rest of her statement, and Prue took a minute to be amused at the way that Henry had obviously persuaded her to keep the original message intact.

"Hey, Paige," Prue started. "I guess you're at work, which means that I've missed you, again, which makes this almost two months, now, that we've been playing phone tag. You're it, by the way."

She paused, taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

"It's taken me two weeks to return your last phone call," she went on. "I've been busy – what am I saying? I'm always busy. You're always busy. I haven't even congratulated you on your new promotion at work. I am so proud of you for making social worker; you deserve it. You know what, we need to go out to dinner to celebrate, have a girl's night, like we did before we both got lives."

The sound of footsteps on the stairs had Prue looking up, and she covered the mouthpiece of the phone as she glanced at Piper.

"Okay, Phoebe's up with the Book, researching our demon," Piper said, as she came down the stairs. "You and I are going to go after Griffiths and bring him back here. You ready?"

"Yeah," Prue replied. "Just give me a minute."

Turning her attention back to her phone, she added, "So, yeah, we need to get together some time. Just you and me, though; the girly stuff freaks Henry out. I'll talk to you later, okay? I love you. Bye."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock. Sorry for the delay; real life's been a killer.

* * *

_**Three days later**_

"Printing!"

Paige hit save on the file that she was working on as she heard the ancient printer in the corner whir to life. She pushed her chair away from her desk, intending to get up, but she stopped at the sound of crinkling paper. Looking down, she saw a newspaper caught underneath her chair.

Reaching down, she pulled the paper out from under her chair and tossed it on her desk. Then, just as quickly, she grabbed the paper, again, staring in numb horror at the page it had fallen open to.

_'Prue Halliwell … beloved sister … greatly missed-'_

She skimmed the majority of the obituary, words jumping out at her as she tried to make sense of what she was reading.

"She can't be," she said, softly, slumping back in her chair as she stared at the paper in shock.

"What'd you say?" a voice asked over her shoulder, and Paige looked around to see Lila peering over the edge of her cubicle. "Oh, yeah," Lila went on, seeing the paper in Paige's hand, "Halliwell, that's the woman who was murdered a couple days ago."

"Murdered?" Paige echoed, incredulously, staring at her friend in shock, and the other woman nodded.

"Yeah, it was in the news," Lila told her. "There was a break-in at her house, and she was shot, or something. Haven't you been watching the news?"

"I've been busy with work," Paige said, faintly, feeling Lila's words hit her like a sledgehammer. "I haven't really been watching much television, lately."

"Hey," Lila said, noticing the stricken look that had settled over Paige's face, "are you okay?"

"I knew her," Paige said, her voice shaky. "I knew Prue."

"Oh, honey," Lila said, sympathetically, and Paige closed her eyes as a wave of grief washed over her.

"We were friends," Paige went on, softly. "We've drifted apart, recently, but for a while, she was the closest thing I had to a sister."

"I'm so sorry," Lila told her, and Paige nodded, slowly. "Are you-" Lila started, but then one of their coworkers called her name from across the room.

"Go," Paige said, quietly. "I have to make a phone call, anyway."

Lila left, but Paige took a minute to herself. Dropping her head into her hands, she sighed, deeply. She sat there for a minute, just breathing and struggling to come to terms with what she'd just learned. Then, she picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello?" Henry answered, sounding distracted, and Paige's heart clenched at the thought of what she was about to tell him.

"Henry, it's me," she said, quietly.

"Hey, you," Henry greeted her, sounding much more cheerful than he had a few seconds earlier.

Paige knew that her news was going to break his heart as much as it had hers. Her aunt Julie had used to joke around, calling them the Three Musketeers, they'd been so close. Henry and Prue had seemed like two sides of the same coin, at times, and, even now, she couldn't understand how the three of them had drifted apart.

"Hey, is something wrong?" Henry asked, when she was silent for too long, and Paige took a deep breath to try and steady herself.

"Prue's dead, Henry," she said, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"Are you sure?" Henry demanded, and Paige had to swallow hard against the lump that formed in her throat.

"It's her," she confirmed," her voice coming out rough. "Henry's she's gone."

Her voice hitched on a strangled sob, and she buried her face in her hands as she struggled to regain control of herself. On the other end of the line, Henry was silent, giving her the time she needed to compose herself. She took a few deep breaths, her shoulders shaking with minute tremors as she forced back the sobs that threatened to escape.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked, quietly, concern clear in his voice.

"I don't know," Paige admitted, her voice soft as she sank back in her chair. "According to the paper, her memorial is in about half an hour at a church across town. I'm going to take an early lunch."

"I'll meet you at the church," Henry told her, immediately. "We'll pay our respects, together."

"Thanks," Paige said, gratefully, and then, after saying good-bye, she hung up the phone.

Crossing the room, she grabbed her copies from the printer and headed for Cowan's office. She knocked perfunctorily on the door frame, entering when Cowan waved her into his office.

"Mr. Cowan," she started, as she handed him the completed Mason file, "I need to take an early lunch. Now, preferably."

"Something wrong?" Cowan asked, when he heard the tone in her voice.

"I just found out that an old friend died a couple of days ago," Paige told him. "Her memorial is in about half an hour – I won't be gone very long."

"Go," Cowan told her, and Paige shot him a grateful look. "And, Paige? I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," Paige told him, softly, leaving his office.

She clocked out for lunch and headed to her car. The radio blared to life as she started the ignition, but she flicked if off, plunging the car into total silence. And she drove across town soaking in the quiet that gave her time to think.

She pulled up in front of the church almost fifteen minutes later, parking on the opposite side of the street. She recognized Henry's beat up old car pulling in down the street a few seconds later, and she gave him a tiny wave as she started towards him.

"Are you okay?" Henry asked, immediately, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

"I can't believe she's gone," Paige mumbled into his shoulder. "I just – I keep expecting to hear that it's just some huge mistake."

"I know what you mean," Henry told her. "There's a part of me that keeps praying that this is all a bad dream, and that I'm going to wake up any minute, now." Pulling back, he shot her a concerned look. "Are you sure you're okay to go in there?" he asked, taking in her red, puffy eyes.

Paige nodded, determinedly. "I want to say good-bye," she said, quietly. "Prue and I may have fallen out of touch, lately, but she was my best friend, and I owe her that much."

Henry nodded, wrapping an arm loosely around her waist as they started across the street toward the church. Entering the building, they moved into the sanctuary, staying at the back of the room. Leaning against the wall, they watched the other mourners file slowly into the room.

"I feel underdressed," Henry muttered, sheepishly, glancing down at the tee-shirt and worn-out jeans that he was wearing.

"We didn't exactly know that we'd be going to a funeral, this morning," Paige pointed out, quietly, gesturing to her blouse and denim mini-skirt. "Hey," she added, softer, nodding at the front of the church, "I think that's Prue's family up there."

"Did you ever meet them?" Henry asked, quietly, following her gaze to where she was looking at a pair of women in dark dresses sitting at the front of the church.

"Once or twice," Paige replied. "Prue has-" She paused, a fist clenching over her heart at the subtle reminder that Prue was gone. "She _had_ two younger sisters," she corrected herself, quietly. "Piper, and Phoebe is the youngest. Piper owns that nightclub downtown, P3."

"I've been there a couple times," Henry said. "I don't think I've ever run into Prue, though."

"She was there last week," Paige said, softly. "I was there with Shane, and I saw Prue on the other side of the room. I told myself I was too busy to go over and say hello," she added, a bitter tone in her voice. "It was the last time I saw her."

Henry reached out and twined his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand in silently sympathy. A few minutes later, the service started. It was beautiful, if a bit unusual, and Paige found herself blinking back quiet tears. Beside her, Henry was surreptitiously rubbing at his eyes, and she saw the glint of tears on his cheeks when he glanced at her.

As the service drew to a close, they joined the long line of people that shuffled slowly up the aisle to where Prue's family was gathered, to pay their respects. They crept forward as the other mourners spoke to Prue's sisters, and then, it was their turn. Paige stood in front of a young woman wearing a black blouse and a paisley-patterned jacket.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," she murmured, a sentiment echoed by Henry, standing at her shoulder.

"Thank you," the woman, Paige thought she might have been Phoebe, replied. "How – how did you know Prue? From work?"

"No, just from around, you know?" Paige told her. "I haven't spoken to Prue in while. Anyway," she added, "our condolences."

She shook Phoebe's hand one more time, her eyes widening in alarm when the other woman's hand tightened painfully in her grip, and she started to shake. She looked like she was having a seizure.

The attack, whatever it was, ended a few seconds after it had begun when the other woman pulled her hand out of Paige's with a pained cry and fell to the floor. Even as Paige instinctively stepped forward to help her, the rest of Prue's family had swarmed around the woman, blocking her from view. Henry gently pulled Paige backward, steering her back down the aisle.

"Looks like they've got things in hand," he muttered under his breath. "And I think we should get out of here."

"Why?" Paige asked, confused, and then realization struck. "You think I electrocuted her?" she demanded, softly, incredulously.

"Didn't you?" Henry countered, quietly, as they stepped outside the church. "Paige, you can't control your powers when you're emotional. And you've zapped people, before."

"Once," Paige countered, immediately. "I zapped you, once. And I did not electrocute that woman."

"Are you sure?" Henry asked, and Paige's shoulders slumped.

"No," she admitted, sheepishly. "Which means that I need to take a walk to cool down before I go back to work. It would be bad if I lost control and shorted out the office."

"You want some company?" Henry offered, and Paige nodded.

"Sure," she said, leaning into his embrace as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

They walked in silence for about fifteen minutes before Henry mentioned something about having to go back to work. Back at his car, Henry pulled Paige into a quick hug.

"P3, tonight, ten o'clock," he said, as they pulled apart. "How about it? We'll say goodbye to Prue."

"Sounds good," Paige told him.

"And," Henry suggested, a too-casual tone in his voice, "maybe I could meet this Shane guy you've been seeing."

"Ah, no," Paige decided, after a moment. "You scare the hell out of the guys I date."

"Then, maybe you should start dating some tougher guys," Henry countered, cheerfully.

"The last one ran into burning buildings for a living," Paige shot back. "You scared the crap out of a guy who's not even afraid of fire."

Henry didn't even bother to look abashed at that comment. If anything, he looked a little smug, and Paige just sighed in exasperation.

"You're incorrigible," she scolded him. "Go back to work. I'll see you at the club, tonight."

"See you later," Henry told her, and then she watched him drive away, before she walked back to her own car and began the drive across town back to her own job.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

Later that night, Paige and Henry were at P3, sharing a corner booth on the far side of the club. They could barely hear each other over the pounding noise that filled the dance floor, but Henry had solved that problem by scooting close to Paige and slinging an arm around her shoulders. Paige curled against Henry's side, doodling idly on a napkin.

"Two mineral waters," a perky waitress said, plunking the bottles down on the table, and Henry passed her the money to cover the bill.

"I remember the first time I met Prue," Henry said, a nostalgic tone in his voice. "Your hormones were completely out of whack, and you were crying over a billboard for a hamburger restaurant, of all things. And I was trying to calm you down, and you couldn't stop crying, and then here came this crazy woman with a camera around her neck, and she looked like she wanted to rip my head off."

"She would have, too," Paige reminded him, teasingly, "if I hadn't told her that you weren't the reason that I was crying."

"And then she wouldn't stop teasing you about hamburgers for the rest of the week," Henry finished.

"I've been thinking all day about why Prue and I didn't talk more, recently," Paige told him. "And, you know, it was so stupid. I kept telling myself that I was too busy, that I would call her tomorrow-" She shook her head, regretfully. "I never imagined that I would run out of tomorrows."

"You and me, both," Henry replied. "Prue called me last week, we talked for a couple of minutes, but then I had to go to work. I thought I didn't have the time." Hugging Paige close, he added, "Promise me we'll never drift apart like that."

"Never," Paige vowed, quietly. "For Prue," she added, clinking the neck of her bottle against Henry's, gently. "Be at peace, big sis."

"Rest in peace," Henry echoed, a moment later. "Miss you."

"Hey," Paige said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them, "do you remember when Prue –"

The two of them chatted for a while, reminiscing over old memories. They were lost in their own little world, letting the noise of the club wash over them in the background, until Paige's attention was caught by the sound of a throat clearing, nearby. Paige looked up, blushing slightly when she saw her boyfriend, Shane, standing over their table. He was scowling at the way Henry's arm was still draped over her shoulders.

"Shane, this is my friend, Henry," Paige said, hoping to stave off a fight before it could even get started. "Henry, this is Shane."

"Getting a little chummy with my girlfriend, aren't you, buddy?" Shane snapped, and Paige heaved an aggravated sigh.

"The jealous boyfriend thing really isn't attractive," she informed the young man.

"We had plans to meet, tonight, remember?" Shane said, pointedly. "Looks like you started without me."

"I'm going to get going," Henry said, a small smirk playing across his face. "I'll see you later, huh?"

"Yeah, talk to you later," Paige promised.

Henry dropped a kiss onto her cheek as he scooted out of the booth, giving Shane a guileless smirk as he passed the younger man. Shane was turning an interesting shade of scarlet as he glared after Henry, and Paige bit back a sigh when he sat down next to her, far closer than he'd done on their previous dates.

"So, what are you doing here?" Shane asked, a little snippily, to her ears.

"Saying goodbye to a friend," Paige told him. When Shane shot her a questioning look, she added, "I was at a funeral, earlier today. Henry and I were toasting Prue's memory."

"Oh," Shane muttered, a chagrined tone in his voice. "I'm, um, I'm sorry. Were you guys close?"

"Pretty close," Paige replied. "Prue and Henry have been there through my best, and my worst. It's going to be hard to imagine life without her in it."

"I'm sorry," Shane repeated, awkwardly. When a waitress passed by a couple of seconds later, he snagged the young woman. "Hey, can we get a couple of longnecks, over here?"

"Nothing for me, thanks," Paige told the waitress, who nodded. The young woman returned about a minute later with Shane's beer, which he fiddled with.

"So, um, a funeral, huh?" he asked.

"How was your day?" Paige interrupted him, taking pity on him and changing the subject before things got even more uncomfortable.

"Pretty good," Shane told her, and then he was off and talking. Paige sat back and sipped her mineral water, content to let his words wash over her.

"Do you want to get out of here?" she asked, after a while, and Shane looked at her in surprise.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked, curiously.

Fifteen minutes later, they emerged from the stairwell of the hospital on the other side of town, to stand on the roof. Paige sighed and stretched her arms out at her sides, tipping her head back toward the sky and breathing in the cool night air.

"Aren't you worried we'll get caught?" Shane asked, nervously.

"I like an element of danger," Paige replied, teasingly. Then, she laughed, and added, "Don't worry, I come up here all the time to meditate. I like being up above the rest of the city, like this."

"How do you come up here and not get caught?" Shane demanded.

"I work a couple of times a month as a social worker for the hospital," Paige explained. "I'm listed as an employee, and I have access everywhere, including the roof."

"Oh." For all his worry, Shane seemed almost disappointed that she had such a mundane explanation.

"Now, would you relax?" Paige asked, shaking her head to clear the faint, howling sound that reached her ears. "You're spoiling my serenity."

"Sorry," Shane said, and then he let out a yelp that made Paige jump.

"Geez, Shane-" she exclaimed, turning around, and then she trailed off, staring in shock at the tall, gray man standing on the far end of the roof. "What the hell?" she breathed. "Who are you?" she demanded of the man.

'Your end," the man said, his voice coming out in an eerie moan that made Paige's hair stand on end.

Then, to her amazement, the man formed a whirling ball of energy in the palm of his hand, throwing it at her and Shane. Paige reacted immediately, shoving Shane to the roof and diving out of the way of the incoming blast. She wasn't fast enough, and the energy ball clipped her shoulder, sending her spinning through the air to crash heavily to the roof, her head bouncing off the concrete and making the world spin in front of her eyes.

"Son of a bitch," she growled, as she pushed herself to her feet, wiping away the blood that trickled into her eyes from the gash on her forehead.

She looked toward the man in time to see him disappear in a gust of wind. She stared at the spot where he'd been standing, and then she heard the sound of howling wind from behind her that had her whirling around. The man was standing behind her, another energy ball in the palm of his hand.

Paige focused, electricity leaping between her fingers. She threw the electricity at the same time the man threw his energy ball, and she felt a brief moment of triumph as she hit her target, wounding the man who was trying to kill her.

Then, the energy ball hit her in the chest, sending her flying over the edge of the building…


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

Paige heard a distant scream as she went over the edge of the building, and she saw a pair of faces staring down at her in horror. Paige blocked the people out, taking a deep breath as she honed her concentration, focusing on the spot she'd been standing on a few seconds earlier. A familiar weightlessness took her over, and then she was standing on the roof, again.

The people who'd watched her fall were staring at her in amazement, the woman's mouth hanging open in shock. Paige was startled to recognize Prue's youngest sister.

"Oh, my God," Phoebe breathed. "You're a Whitelighter?"

"Oh, my God," another voice echoed, and Paige whirled around to see Shane staring at her. She started toward him, but stopped when he took a step back from her, his hands held up as if to ward her off.

"Shane-" she started, but he clearly wasn't listening to her, his eyes wide with panic.

"What the hell are you?" he demanded, hoarsely.

"Shane, I can explain," Paige tried to tell him, but the younger man was shaking his head in denial, backing away from her like she had the plague.

"Stay away from me, you freak!" Shane snapped, when she tried to get near him, again, and then he whirled around and bolted for the stairwell access, the door banging shut behind him.

"Damn it," Paige swore softly, under her breath, starting after Shane. Phoebe and her companion moved toward her, but Paige dodged out of their way. "Excuse me," she said, brusquely.

"A demon just tried to kill you," the man called after her, and Paige filed the reference away for future use.

"And I got him pretty good," she retorted, "so I doubt he's going to be coming back any time soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go keep my boyfriend from exposing me on the eleven o'clock news."

She darted past the couple and wrenched the rooftop door open, wincing as the movement jarred her sore shoulder. She jogged down the stairs, praying that she was going to catch up to Shane at any moment, but she reached the main level without seeing him. Pulling the door open, she emerged into the main hallway of the hospital, heading for the exit.

She didn't make it, though, because one of the nurses saw the blood smearing the side of her forehead, and bustled her into an exam room in the ER before she could even begin to protest. And with the wound in her head starting to pound like a tympani drum, she didn't put up too much of a fight.

* * *

Leo listened to Piper clatter around in the kitchen, his heart aching at the pain he knew that she was in. He'd tried to get her to talk to him, but Piper just shut him out at every opportunity, wrapping her anger and grief around her like a cloak. She wasn't letting anyone in – him, Phoebe –

His musing was cut off suddenly as a sharp pain lanced through his head. He grimaced, lifting a hand to his forehead, half expecting to see blood on his fingertips. When his fingers came away clean, he knew that the pain had to be a charge's. And given Phoebe's premonition, earlier, he had a feeling that he knew who was in trouble.

"Piper?" he said, softly, poking his head into the kitchen. "A charge is in trouble; I have to go."

The sound of dishes clanging together was his only answer, and he orbed away with a resigned sigh. He materialized in what seemed to be a janitorial closet, and he stepped out to find himself in the hospital. He could feel a pull down the hallway toward Paige, his head throbbing again in concert with her injury, and he'd just started in her direction when someone slammed into his shoulder, knocking him back. He was about to say something to the person who'd run into him when he recognized the young man that Paige had been dating for the last month.

"Hey, don't I know you?" he asked, as he reached out and grabbed the younger man's arm, pulling him around to face him. "You're a friend of Paige's, aren't you?"

"Not – not anymore," the young man stammered, his eyes wide with something that looked like panic. "She's – she's not human, man; she's some kind of freak-"

_'This is not good,'_ Leo thought, grimly, tightening his grip on the young man's arm to keep him from running away.

With his free hand, he dug into his pocket for the memory dust he'd stored there, earlier, when he'd been using it to help another charge. He blew a handful of the dust into the young man's face, watching him splutter indignantly for a second before going lax and compliant.

"You're going to forget what you saw," he said, quietly. "You never saw Paige use her powers. You didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

The young man blinked at him, and Leo knew that the dust was going to wear off, soon, so he needed to act, fast.

"You're going to go the ER and get your injuries treated," he went on, quickly, taking in the young man's dirty clothes, and the way he was unconsciously favoring one leg. "And then you're going to go home and you're going to go to sleep."

He released his grip on the young man's arm, watching him stumble away down the hall. Then, he turned and tried to find Paige. He wandered through the hallways, focusing on the dull throbbing in the back of his mind that guided him to his charge, and he eventually wound up in the ER. He found Paige in one of the exam rooms, getting a nasty gash in her head stitched up by a talkative doctor.

He was about to go to her, even though he had no idea what he was going to say ("Hey, guess what, I'm not just your handyman; I'm your guardian angel,"), when he heard Phoebe calling him. She sounded anxious, and Paige looked to be in good hands. There wasn't much he could do, since he couldn't very well heal her in public.

He waited a couple more seconds to make sure that Paige really was all right, and then he orbed back to the Manor. When he materialized in the kitchen, he found Piper still working on the dishes at the sink, while Phoebe and Cole were arguing quietly at the table.

"I'm telling you," Cole was saying, his tone insistent, "the Source wouldn't send Shax after a Whitelighter. Shax can't kill a Whitelighter; only a Darklighter can. Right, Leo?" he added, upon seeing a potential ally.

"We are rather resistant when it comes to demonic attacks," Leo replied. "Your Innocent?" he asked Phoebe, even though he knew full well who they were talking about.

"She orbed," Phoebe told him, emphatically. "Bright, white lights and all. That means that she's a Whitelighter, right, Leo?"

Phoebe and Cole were both staring at him, like they expected him to pick their side of the argument. Leo felt like he was being not-so-subtly pulled in two different directions. Three, if he counted Piper's icy, persistent silence from the other side of the kitchen.

"You're both right," Leo said, with a quiet sigh, silently apologizing to Sandra for breaking the silence that she'd imposed on him. "Look, there's something that I need to tell you, all. Something that I should have told you a long time, ago."


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

"And that should do it," Ava Nicolae told Paige, as she placed the last stitches into the wound on her forehead. "I'm impressed, Paige. Thirty-seven stitches. What, exactly, did you do to hurt yourself, again?"

"I slipped and fell on the roof," Paige said, tactfully omitting the part where a demon had helped her to it. "And, you only used so many stitches because you're a perfectionist."

"I used that many stitches," Ava countered, "because your head wound wouldn't stay closed. Which means that you've earned yourself a night in one of our fine beds, on concussion watch."

"What? No!" Paige protested, immediately, staring at Ava in shock. "Oh, come on, Ava, it's not that bad."

"It took five minutes for the bleeding to stop long enough for me to stitch you up," Ava reminded her, stubbornly. "Paige, head injuries are nothing to fool around with. You need to be lying down and not exerting yourself."

"I'm fine," Paige insisted, thinking of Shane, his panicked face as he stared at her like she was some kind of monster, and her face plastered all over the evening news. "Come on, I don't really need to stay here all night, do I?"

"Two hours," Ava capitulated, after a few moments. "Long enough for me to be sure that you're not going to pass out in a ditch, somewhere."

"It's San Francisco; we're not exactly overrun with ditches," Paige shot back, sarcastically. "Half an hour. I'm already going stir crazy."

"One hour, and that's my final offer," Ava said. "Now, would you please lie down and let the painkillers do their work?"

"Fine," Paige sighed, as she stretched out on the exam bed.

"And try not to bleed all over the room, huh?" Ava teased her, as she left the room, laughing as Paige stuck her tongue out at her.

Paige closed her eyes as soon as she was alone, letting herself drift in the relative silence of the empty room. She didn't quite doze off, but she was certainly startled back into awareness when someone put a hand on her arm, and she opened her eyes to find Henry standing beside her bed, a concerned expression on his face.

"What is it with you, and me, and hospitals?" Henry asked, grinning down at her.

"Yeah, except last time, you were the one bleeding all over the place," Paige retorted, as she sat up on the bed. "What are you doing here?"

"Ava called me," Henry told her. "I'm your ICE-One, remember? So, what happened?" he prompted, dragging a chair over beside the bed.

"That's a long story," Paige told him, with a sigh. "I don't know if you'll believe me. Hell, I don't know if I believe me."

"Try talking it out," Henry suggested.

"Couldn't hurt," Paige agreed. "Okay, I was up on the roof, and I was attacked by a … I'm not even sure how to put this. I was attacked by a demon."

"I beg your pardon?" Henry asked, surprised. "A demon? Like hellfire and brimstone?"

"One and the same," Paige replied. "Big, gray guy throwing around energy balls. Knocked me off the freaking roof. I got him good, though."

"Well, I'm glad to see that it didn't stick," Henry told her, his light tone at odds with the worry in his eyes as he squeezed her hand, gently. "Are you all right?"

"For the most part," Paige reassured him. "Just scrapes and bruises. I'm mostly pissed. I mean, why was that thing even after me?"

"Who knows?" Henry said, with a shrug. "The important thing is that you're okay, and it's over. Hey," he added, a moment later, "how did your date with Shane go?"

"Well, when you consider that being attacked by a demon was the better part of my evening-" Paige said, shaking her head. "How does unmitigated disaster sound?"

"Why, what happened?" Henry asked. "No, wait, let me guess. He's married."

"No," Paige said, a smile creeping slowly over her face at Henry's teasing tone.

"Um, he found out about that sixth toe," Henry went on. "You've got to admit, that thing is creepy."

"I don't even have a sixth toe!" Paige exclaimed, laughing, and Henry chuckled.

There was a moment of silence, and then he asked, somberly, "Did you tell him that you used to be a man?"

He managed to hold a straight face for about two seconds, right before Paige smacked him in the face with the pillow from her bed.

"Shut up!" she said, fighting back laughter. "Would you please be serious?"

"All right, all right," Henry said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm being serious. What happened?"

"Shane found out about me," Paige told him, her own laughter dying. "He saw me use my powers. And he freaked out. And I'm worried that he's going to go running straight to the cops, or Channel Six News, or something."

"That's not good," Henry declared, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"You're telling me," she replied. "Henry, I'm screwed."

"No, you're not," Henry said, reassuringly. "No matter what happens, we'll handle it."

"I hope so," Paige sighed. "The last thing I need right now is to have my every secret spilled out for the world to see."

Henry opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by a knock on the doorway. He and Paige both looked toward the door, Paige's eyebrows flying up in shock to see Shane standing there.

"Shane-" she began, and then she trailed off, for once, completely at a loss for words.

"I'm glad to see that you're all right," Shane said, entering the room, and now it was Henry's turn to look surprised.

He blinked at Paige, leaning close and whispering, "This is him freaking out?"

"I'm really sorry for running off like I did," Shane was saying, as he stopped beside Paige's bed. "I felt so guilty when I heard that you got hurt."

"I'm okay, really," Paige said, even as she marveled at Shane's complete one-eighty. "Are you all right?" she asked, seeing the way Shane was keeping his weight off his right leg.

"I'm fine," Shane said, shrugging her concern off. "Oh, hey, there's a cop out there that's going to want to talk to you."

"What?" Paige demanded, exchanging a panicked look with Henry. "Why?"

"I told him that you saw the guy that attacked us, up on the roof," Shane said, sounding baffled by her reaction. "You did, right?"

"Um," Paige stammered, but Shane wasn't listening to her.

"Anyway, the doctor said that I should go home and lie down," he said, blithely. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Then, he dropped a kiss onto her forehead and sailed out the door, leaving Paige to stare after him in amazement.

"What the hell just happened, here?" Paige asked, looking to Henry for some kind of explanation, but he looked just as confused as she was.

And before he could say anything, a second knock on the doorframe had an irritated look crossing his face, Henry clearly annoyed at being interrupted, yet again. Paige gave him a sympathetic smile at the way he fought to force the scowl off his face.

"Can I help you?" she asked the man standing in the doorway.

"Inspector Marco Cortez," the man introduced himself, as he entered the room. "I'm here to talk to you about the man who attacked you, Ms. Matthews."

"I'm sorry," Paige lied, a guileless look on her face. "I didn't see the guy. I can't really help you."

"Are you sure?" Cortez pressed, insistently. "Anything that you can remember, even the tiniest detail, could help us catch this monster. He's already killed two people," he added, clearly hoping to shock her, "and you and your boyfriend were lucky that you weren't victims three and four."

"I'm sorry," Paige repeated, "but I just didn't see anything."

Cortez shook his head as he glared at her. "Now, see, some people might believe you," he hissed, quietly, "but I can see in your eyes that you're lying. Who are you trying to protect?"

"Hey, back off, Cortez" Henry growled, before Paige could protest. "She already said that she didn't see anything."

"Stay out of this, Mitchell," Cortez snapped, without looking over at Henry. To Paige, he added, "I know you know something. Just like the Halliwells. I can see it in your eyes."

"Halliwell?" Paige repeated, suddenly.

"Yeah," Cortez said, a strange glint in his eyes. "Prue Halliwell was murdered last week, and her family is protecting the monster who did it. Just like you are."

"I'm not protecting anyone, Inspector," Paige said, coolly. "Now, I think you need to leave."

Cortez glared at her, but Paige just stared impassively back, not giving an inch. Henry, at her side, glared protectively at the other cop. Finally, Cortez stalked out of the room without a word, and Paige slumped back against the bed.

"Do you think he's right?" Henry asked, quietly. "Do you think that Prue was murdered by the same demon that attacked you, up on the roof?"

"I don't know," Paige replied, with a sigh. "But, I think that I need to talk to her sisters."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

Leo knew that his announcement wasn't going to go over well. Calling it a disaster would have been too kind. But, he hadn't expected the absolute betrayal shining from Piper's eyes as she glared wordlessly at him over a sink full of dishes.

"Piper-" he tried, but his wife ignored him, breathing slowly in an effort to control her temper as she dried her hands on the towel that she'd snatched off the counter. Then, just as slowly, she stalked past him and out of the kitchen, heading for the staircase.

Phoebe shot him a dark glower as she ran after her sister, calling to her as she ran up the stairs. Cole just sighed, clapping a hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Hey," he said, with a shrug, "if they can forgive me for trying to kill them when I was evil, they'll forgive you for this."

"You've never seen Piper hold a grudge, have you?" Leo asked, rhetorically, orbing up to the attic, knowing that it was where Piper was headed.

Cole shimmered in behind him a second later, and they found Piper and Phoebe standing in front of the Book, Piper glaring at the Book like it was the source of all her misfortune in the world.

"Your destiny still awaits, she says," she was ranting, furiously. "There's a reason for everything, she says. Well, it's time to summon her transparent butt back here and find out what that reason is."

_'Summon who?'_ Leo thought, but then Piper finished the last line of the summoning spell, and Penny appeared in the circle of candles. _'Ah. I should have figured.'_

From the look on her face, Penny had to have known that something was up. But, to her credit, she barely blinked to see her furious granddaughters staring her down, their arms crossed over their chests.

"Hello, my darlings," she said, and what sounded like a growl came out of Piper's throat.

"Don't give us that," she snapped. "Grams, who the hell is Paige Matthews?"

"I – I don't know what you're talking about," Penny stammered, evasively, her eyes darting around the attic.

"You know what, Grams?" Phoebe chimed in, "you were a lousy liar when you were alive, and as a ghost, you're worse." Softening, she added, "If you know anything about our sis-" she cut herself off with an effort, "about this _girl_, you need to tell us."

"I can't," Penny said, regretfully, and Piper huffed out an impatient breath.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because I was sworn to secrecy," came the reluctant answer.

"By who?" Phoebe asked, and there was a shimmer of light next to Penny.

"By me," a spectral voice said, softly, and Patty's ethereal form materialized next to her mother's. "By me."

"Mom?" Piper and Phoebe demanded, in unison, staring incredulously from the ghosts, to Leo, and back.

"Hello, darlings," Patty said, a gentle smile on her face. Sharing a look with Penny, she said, "I suppose it's time that we came clean."

"More than time," Piper interjected, coolly. Glaring at her mother and grandmother, she exploded, "How could you keep this from us for all this time? How could you just lie to us for all these years?"

"We were trying to protect you," Patty explained. "Protect you, and protect Paige."

"Protect us from what?" Phoebe asked.

"Sam and I-" Patty started, and Cole leaned over to Leo.

"Who's Sam?" he hissed, quietly.

"Patty's Whitelighter," Leo replied, just as softly, but Piper still heard him, judging by the irritated look she flashed him.

"What we had was forbidden," Patty went on, as if Cole had never spoken. "Unthinkable, even. We were afraid that if the Elders found out, that there would be reprisals. That you girls would be denied your powers, your birthright."

"And it was to protect Paige, as well," Penny added, solemnly. "If the Elders were to find out about her, Patty and Sam would have faced consequences, but Paige-"

"The Elders would have taken her away from your family," Leo spoke up. "She would have been kept contained somewhere in complete isolation, would have been studied, dissected – she never would have been able to live any kind of normal life. Any kind of life at all, actually."

"That's horrible," Phoebe gasped, and Piper looked green.

"Even demons aren't that barbaric," Cole muttered. Leo found it hard to disagree with him.

"Wait a minute," Piper demanded, holding up a hand to get their attention. "If it's so dangerous for this girl – for Paige – to exist, so dangerous that we couldn't even know about her, then why tell us now? Why keep this a secret for all these years, only to break your silence, now?"

"Because Prue's death changes things," Leo said, quietly. "Without her, the Power of Three is broken. But, if Paige-"

"She's a witch," Patty interjected, smoothly, when Leo faltered. "And being my daughter, your sister, means that she has the power to complete the Charmed Ones, to make you whole, again."

A stormy look crossed Piper's face as she glared at her mother. "We were whole when Prue was alive," she said, the words forced out of her throat with an effort. "Now she's dead, and so is the Power of Three."

"We can't just leave Paige to Shax-" Phoebe started, but she was cut off by the sound of footsteps behind them.

They turned around, Leo groaning in dismay at the sight of Darryl and Inspector Cortez standing in the doorway. Cortez was staring at the ghosts in openmouthed shock, his gun wavering between the living and the dead occupants of the attic.

"Oh, my God," he breathed. "I knew it. I knew you were hiding something."

"Well, congratulations," Penny said, dryly, rolling her eyes. "You caught us. What are you going to do, shoot us?"

"Easy, Grams," Phoebe snapped. "Not all of us are dead, remember?"

"All my life," Cortez ranted, "I knew that evil magic existed." When Cole took a step toward him, he swiveled and pointed the gun at his chest. "Don't move," he ordered, brusquely. "I'll shoot."

"So will I," Cole growled, but Phoebe put a restraining hand on his arm.

"Darryl, do something," she pleaded, softly, but Darryl shook his head, frustration written in every line of his face.

"I can't," he said, angrily. "He's got a search warrant."

"And I've more than found what I was looking for," Cortez said, sounding satisfied with himself. "Including the truth about the two murders that happened, here."

"Wait a minute," Piper said, incredulously. "Are you accusing us?"

"I've only begun to accuse you, lady," Cortez snapped, taking a step forward, but then he crumpled in a heap on the floor, Darryl standing behind him with his gun raised. He'd struck Cortez over the head, and he looked sick as he knelt down next to the fallen cop and rolled him gently onto his back.

"You've been through enough, today," Darryl said, quietly.

"Thanks," Phoebe said, gratefully. Looking around, she asked the others in the attic, "Um, what are we going to do with him?"

"Memory dust," Piper said, immediately, but Leo shook his head.

"I used the last of my supply earlier this evening," he said apologetically. "Paige ran into a bit of an exposure problem, and I had to take care of it." When Piper shot him a look, he added, "She's my charge; she's mine to protect. Just like you and Phoebe."

"Oh, just write a spell," Penny said, with a dismissive wave. At the shocked looks she received, she added, "Well, there's more than enough magic in this room to send him somewhere. Just start rhyming."

"Mother," Patty admonished, softly, but Penny ignored her.

"Take him back, take him away. Remove him now, don't let him stay-" She trailed off, gesturing at Phoebe to take up her thread.

"Um," Phoebe stammered. "We call the spirits to help undo," she said, "and send him off to – Timbuktu."

Bright, white lights surrounded Cortez's body, and when the light cleared, he was gone. There was a moment of absolute silence, broken by Darryl's near-hysterical exclamation.

"Timbuktu? You sent him to Timbuktu?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

It took another half hour for Paige to be able to leave the hospital. First she had to convince Ava to release her, something the older woman was not happy with. It took a lot of fast talking on Paige's part, but she finally got Ava to sign the necessary papers, and then she was free to go.

She and Henry were just headed out to his car when his cell phone rang, and he dropped back to take the call. Paige watched a frustrated look cross his face, and she knew that it was bad news.

"One of Greg Conroy's kids never checked in," he said, flipping the phone shut and shoving it in his pocket. "He wants my help to track him down."

"Go," Paige said, automatically, but Henry hesitated.

"What about-" he started, but Paige cut him off.

"Go," she repeated, emphatically. "Henry, all I'm going to do is talk to those women. Nothing more; I promise."

"Just keep it to talking, okay?" Henry said, after a moment. "No chasing after any demons."

"No chasing demons," Paige promised, her hand in the air in a mock salute. "Go bring that kid back safely, okay? Be careful."

"You need to be careful, yourself," Henry told her. "Do you want me to drop you off?"

Paige shook her head. "I'll orb," she replied, getting a surprised look from Henry.

"You can pinpoint addresses, now?" he asked. "What? Did you get the GPS upgrade, or something?"

"Apparently the GPS comes standard," Paige teased him. "I'll see you later, huh?"

"Let me know if you need anything," Henry said, and then she watched him walk to his car.

After Henry had driven away, she walked around to the back of the hospital. She ducked into the empty smoking shelter, grateful for the late hour, and the shadows that hid her presence. She closed her eyes to concentrate, focusing on Prue's old house on Prescott Street, and she orbed away – not noticing Ava stepping out of the back entrance, an unlit cigarette in her hand. Ava stared at the spot where Paige had disappeared, and then without a word, she dropped the cigarette and ground it into the asphalt beneath her sneaker before she turned and went back into the hospital.

Paige materialized into the shadows that surrounded the old Victorian manor, jogging up the steps to the front porch. She knocked on the front door, freezing when the still-open door swung gently open under her hand. She looked quickly around to see a dark gray car parked on the side of the street across from the house.

A sixth sense in the back of her mind was practically screaming at her _'Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!'_ and the last time she'd felt like that Henry had almost gotten shot by a parolee. After that, she had determined never to ignore the sense whispering in her mind.

She called up a small, crackling ball of electricity into the palm of her hand as she eased through the open door, looking carefully around the empty foyer. Everything looked okay as she slowly ventured further into the house, but she wasn't ready to let her guard down, yet.

The sound of voices from somewhere above her startled her into spinning around, and she let out a sigh of relief as Prue's sisters came into view, seemingly whole and unharmed. She dropped her hand to her side, letting the electricity extinguish.

"Okay, let's get one thing straight," Piper was saying, a testy note in her voice as she and Phoebe descended the stairs. "I am only doing this to save her. I am not remotely interested in reconstituting-" Her voice trailed off when she saw Paige standing in the middle of the living room, a small frown forming on her face. "The Charmed Ones," Piper finished, flatly, as she and Phoebe stepped off the last stair.

"Your front door was open," Paige explained. "I, um, I need to talk to the two of you."

"So do we," Phoebe said, latching onto Paige's arm and pulling her further into the room. "We were just coming to look for you."

"You were?" Paige said, slowly.

She figured that they wanted to talk to her about what Phoebe had seen up on the roof. Which was good, since Paige had a few questions of her own.

"Yep," Phoebe chirped. "Come on in. Welcome. I'm Phoebe, and this is my sister, Piper."

"Hey," Paige said, with a small nod. "I'm Paige," she introduced herself.

"Imagine that, another P." Phoebe was almost gushing, and Paige shot the hyper woman a disbelieving look.

"It's nice to meet you," Piper said, much calmer than her sister. Clearly, she was the sane one of the bunch.

Piper held her hand out, and Paige clasped it in a quick handshake. Then, she jumped as the whole house started to shake, and a brilliant blue light cascaded from the chandelier to surround her, Piper, and Phoebe. When the light faded and the tremors had stopped, Paige stared at the other women in amazement.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded.

"I think that means that you're supposed to be here," a male voice said from nearby, and Paige looked over, doing a double take when she recognized the man.

"Aren't you my handyman?" she asked, a skeptical note in her voice, and the man gave her a small smile in response.

A second later, she heard the sound of howling wind that was becoming all-too familiar in her life. She whirled around to see a gust of wind coming in through the open door, and then she, Piper, and Phoebe were thrown off their feet to slam heavily to the floor. The wind materialized into the demon that had attacked her on the hospital roof.

_'He's still bleeding from when I hit him,'_ Paige thought, grimly, as she pushed herself to her feet as the demon advanced on them.

Piper had gotten to her feet, first, and she stepped forward, gesturing emphatically at the demon. A shimmer of energy left her hands to strike the demon, making him stagger backward, and it gave Paige time to ready a small bolt of electricity in her hand that she threw at the demon. Neither attack seemed to faze the demon, and Paige instinctively drew in closer to the other women, unconsciously reaching out and gripping their hands.

The demon staggered, suddenly, as the handyman jumped onto his back, wrapping an arm around the demon's throat. The demon threw him off, slamming him painfully into the floor, and the man standing beside him took advantage of the demon's momentary distraction to tackle him and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Go!" the second man shouted, his voice hoarse as he wrestled with the demon. "Get upstairs!"

Paige felt a tug on her hand as Phoebe started pulling her and Piper toward the stairs, and they bolted up two flights, into an attic.

"What are we doing?" Paige demanded, as the women dragged her over to an old book sitting on a lectern in front of the picture window. "We should be fighting that thing."

"We are," Piper said, brusquely.

"Say this spell with us," Phoebe said, as she flipped frantically through the pages of the book, and Paige stared at her in disbelief.

"Spell?" she echoed. "What are you guys, witches?"

"And so are you, we hope," Phoebe muttered. Paige raised an eyebrow in surprise. What was she talking about?

"Well," Piper said, as the demon's howling filled the attic, "we're about to find out."

The demon materialized in front of them, and Piper and Phoebe were squeezing her hands in a painful grip. Paige looked down at the book in front of them, reciting the words in near-unison with the other women.

_"Evil wind that blows,  
That which forms below.  
No longer may you dwell.  
Death takes you with this spell."_

The demon let out an eerie scream that had the hair on the back of Paige's neck standing up straight. Then, he exploded in a shower of light, and Paige let out the breath that she hadn't even been aware that she was holding.

"That wasn't enough," Phoebe said, into the deafening silence that had fallen over the attic. "Shax was just the messenger. We've got to get the Source."

"The Source of what?" Paige demanded, getting a sheepish look from Piper.

"Of all evil," the older woman said, slowly, and Paige staggered backward until her knees hit the window seat, sinking down onto the cushion.

"What have I gotten myself into?" she murmured, softly. The pounding in her head was back, and she lifted a hand to the stitches in her forehead, pulling away fingers spotted with blood. She silently cursed under her breath; Ava and Henry were going to kill her.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, a concerned note in her voice, and Paige nodded, flapping her hand weakly at the other woman.

"I'm fine," she reassured her. "I just need a minute, you know?"

"You're bleeding," Piper said, her voice sharp. "Come on, we can patch you up downstairs."

She and Phoebe led the way back down the stairs, each of them hooking an arm around hers, like they thought she was going to bolt, otherwise. Paige wondered if Phoebe had already forgotten that she didn't need her legs to be able to move around. Orbing away from them would be child's play, compared to orbing back onto that rooftop, but she decided not to use that avenue, yet. She still wanted to talk to the women, even if it looked like they'd just taken out Prue's killer, together.

Down in the living room, the two men were hunched over on the couch. Her handyman was holding his hand over the other man's face, and Paige watched in amazement as a shallow cut on the man's cheek closed in a line of golden light.

"This is Leo Wyatt," Piper was saying, gesturing to the first man. "My husband."

"And Darryl Morris," Phoebe added, with a nod at the other man. "He's a friend of ours. And completely crazy," she went on, pointedly. "What were you thinking, tackling Shax like that?"

"It distracted him, didn't it?" Darryl asked, rhetorically. "Listen, I've got to get back to the station, see if Cole brought Cortez back from Africa, yet."

"Cortez?" Paige echoed, as Darryl left. "As in Marco Cortez, the Inspector who's investigating Prue's murder?"

"How do you know about that?" Piper asked, suspiciously.

"He talked to me at the hospital after I was attacked by Shax," Paige explained. "I just talked to him less than an hour ago. What's he doing in Africa?"

"Timbuktu, actually," Phoebe spoke up, timidly. When Paige shot her an incredulous look, she added, "It rhymed with undo."

Paige just shook her head in exasperation, not voicing the dozens of protests that immediately sprang to mind. She had a feeling that if she got started, she was never going to stop.

"So, we need to talk to you about something," Phoebe went on, as the three of them joined Leo in the living room.

"So you said," Paige replied, taking a seat in an armchair that faced the couch that Piper, Phoebe, and Leo were occupying. With the way they were positioned, she felt a little bit like she was facing some kind of inquisition.

Piper and Phoebe were exchanging looks, engaged in some kind of silent communication. Leo finally broke the silence by leaning over the coffee table that separated them, his hand held out.

"Let me take care of that, for you," he said, gesturing at her head wound, and Paige felt a coolness wash over her as he healed the gash on her forehead.

"Thanks," she said, gratefully. "I got that the first time the demon – Shax, you said his name was? – attacked me."

She sat back in the rather comfy chair, crossing one leg over the other. She was in no hurry to go anywhere, and she was willing to wait as long as it took to get answers out of Piper and Phoebe. They sat in silence for a few more seconds, and then Piper was the first one to speak.

"What do you know about your birth parents?" she asked, and Paige raised an eyebrow at the direct – and unusual – question.

"How'd you know I was adopted?" she countered, but when no answer was forthcoming, she shrugged. After everything that had happened, tonight, she didn't see that she had to hide anything from the women. "They were angels," she answered, after a moment. "At least, that's what Sister Agnes told me."

"Sister Agnes?" Phoebe echoed.

"The nun that my birth parents left me with when I was born," Paige told them. "She said that they appeared in bright, white lights and begged her to find a safe home for me. That I was in some kind of danger. I seem to have inherited their white-light teleporting ability-"

"Orbing," Leo interrupted her, and Paige spared a moment to be amused by the face that Henry had apparently christened her power by its rightful name.

"Orbing," she agreed. "But, that's all I know about them. Sister Agnes never got any names, or anything."

"Patricia and Samuel," Phoebe said, softly, and Paige shot her a confused look.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"Their names were Patricia Halliwell and Samuel Wilder," Phoebe went on, just as quietly, and Paige felt her heart skip a couple beats.

"How – how do you know that?" she demanded, hoarsely, her voice catching on the words. "Patricia Halliwell is-"

"Our mother," Piper finished for her, when she trailed off. "Your mother," she added, gently, and Paige sucked in a sharp breath.

"You're my sisters," she said, numbly. "Prue was – all this time, and we never knew?" she breathed, quietly. "How?"

"Mom and Sam weren't supposed to be together," Phoebe said, having heard her last comment. "And, having a baby wasn't allowed – they gave you up to protect you."

Paige stared at the women – her _sisters_ – in shock for several seconds, completely at a loss for words. A million thoughts were whirling through her mind, and she couldn't seem to pin down a single one.

"I – I have to go," she finally forced out, pushing herself to her feet. Piper and Phoebe followed suit, a panicked look crossing the latter's face.

"What?" she demanded. "Why?"

"My whole life was just turned upside down in about three seconds," Paige said, dryly. "I need a little time to process this. And I think you guys do, too," she added, getting the feeling that they had only learned about their relationship with her shortly before she had. They couldn't have known, before; Prue never would have kept it a secret from her if she'd known.

"Paige," Piper started, but Paige cut her off with an upraised hand.

"I need to think about this," she said, emphatically. "I'll be in touch, okay?"

Then, focusing on anywhere that wasn't there, she orbed away from the shocked faces of her sisters.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: **Wow, sixty-two reviews. You guys are so awesome. Keep reading and reviewing, because I love hearing what you think.

* * *

The Source watched as Shax was vanquished, highlighted in the Oracle's crystal ball. Turning an impassive gaze on the scantily-clad demon, he waited for an explanation. When none was forthcoming, he reached out and closed his clawed hand around her throat.

"You told me that the witch's future was short-lived," he rumbled, feeling the demon tremble under his hand.

"I said only that it appeared short-lived," she wheezed, as he applied pressure to her throat, cutting off her air. "Seeing into the future is not always exact."

"For your sake, I should think that you would take care to be more precise," the Source said, pointedly, digging his claws in until thin streams of blood trickled down the Oracle's throat. "The Charmed Ones are strong," he ranted, furiously. "She'll be almost untouchable, now that she's been reunited with her sisters."

"But, she's new to the Craft," the Oracle protested, weakly. "She is vulnerable; she can still be corrupted-"

"Not so new as you might think," the Source growled. "She has powers of her own; she wounded Shax when I first sent him after her. The window of opportunity is null and void. She's already freely chosen the side of the Light."

"Even better," the Oracle gasped, turning blue as she gasped in a desperate attempt to get more air into her abused lungs. "It is child's play to corrupt a neophyte witch; but to corrupt one who has already chosen her allegiance, and a Charmed One, at that-" Her eyes glittered with a strange light. "Corrupt the witch, and her darkness will overtake her sisters, as well."

The Source waited several more heartbeats before releasing the Oracle, watching dispassionately as the lithe demon rubbed at her bruised throat.

"If you were to get close to the witch, read her soul, corrupt it-" She trailed off, coughing.

"Find me a conduit to the witch's heart," the Source ordered, brusquely. "And Oracle?" He paused, watching the demon shiver at the dangerous tone in his voice. "Don't screw up, this time."

It hadn't taken long for the Oracle to locate a suitable host, and the Source flamed into the building where the man was supposed to be. The room was dark, save for a single, low light at a desk. His quarry was sitting behind the desk, his head down as he bent over a thick stack of papers, but when he sensed the Source approaching him, he looked up. A startled look came over the man's face as he jumped to his feet, his chair clattering noisily to the floor behind him.

"What the hell?" came the shocked exclamation. "Who are you?"

The Source reached out and grabbed the man by the throat in an iron grip. "For now," he growled, "I am you."

He possessed the mortal, easily, overtaking the man's body and sending his consciousness howling in protest into a dark corner of his own mind. He could still hear the man screaming at him, but he was able to ignore the pitiful wretch, for the most part.

_'And, now, to find the witch,'_ he thought.

He'd just turned away from the desk when he saw someone coming at him out of the corner of his eye. He reigned in his instinctive impulse to incinerate the one who dared approach him, grateful a moment later when the figure turned out to be the witch.

"Henry, thank god you're still here," she said, throwing her arms around him in a hug. Laying her head on his chest, she sighed and added, "You would not believe the night I've had."

"Talk to me," the Source said, soothingly, rubbing his hand up and down the witch's back in what he supposed was a comforting gesture. "It's all right. I'm here, now."

* * *

Paige groaned as the sunlight poured in through her bedroom window. She threw an arm over her eyes to block out the light, yanking the heavy covers over her head with her free hand. A second later, her still-fuzzy brain registered the insistent buzzing sound in the background as her alarm clock, and she struggled out of the blankets, muttering curses when she stubbed her toe on the bed frame.

It took longer than she liked to shower and get dressed for work, and she was running late as she stumbled out of the bedroom and into the apartment's tiny kitchen. But, she froze at the sight of someone sitting at the table, staring down at the newspaper with a frown on his face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, and Henry lifted his head long enough to give her a quick grin.

"Well, you were pretty upset, last night," Henry said, with a nonchalant shrug. "I slept the night on your couch. Hope that was okay," he added, after a moment.

"Of course," Paige said, waving away his concern. "But, you didn't have to stay with me. I – I'm fine, really."

"You didn't sound fine, last night," Henry said, a pointed tone in his voice. "Paige-"

"I don't want to talk about it," Paige said, interrupting him. She pulled the fridge open and grabbed the container of orange juice, pouring herself a cup and downing it in a few, quick gulps.

"You're not excited to have sisters?" Henry asked, a too-casual tone in his voice.

"Prue is dead," Paige said, the words choking in her throat as she swiped at the tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. "And those women are strangers. We're only related by some accident of birth. Besides," she added, bitterly, "from what little I heard last night, I doubt they really want me around, anyway."

"I'm sure it's not what you think," Henry said, but Paige jerked her shoulder in a shrug.

"Right now," she sighed, "I don't know what I think. Forget it; I've got to get to work. The Grisanti family has their final placement hearing at one."

"The abused kid, right?" Henry asked, after a moment. "The father's been hitting his son-"

"The mother, actually," Paige corrected him. "I told you about it last week, remember? Jake Grisanti collapsed from a heart attack in the middle of the clinic, and before he was taken to the hospital, he told his wife that he was done covering for her. Our own little soap opera," she finished. "Anyway, the final hearing is today, and if everything goes well, Nathan Grisanti will go home with grandparents who love him, while his father is recovering in the hospital."

"It sounds like you've got everything sorted out, then," Henry commented, and Paige shot him a look at the disappointment she thought she could hear in his voice.

"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning.

"Nothing," Henry said, quickly, shaking his head. "Listen, I should get to work, too."

"Stop by for lunch if you have time," Paige suggested, walking with him to the door. She snagged her purse from the table beside the door, locking it behind her, and they walked together down to the parking garage.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Thank you to each and every one of my fantastic reviewers. You guys rock.

* * *

Nearly an hour after she'd gotten to work, Paige found herself buried under a mountain of paperwork. She'd only made social worker a few months earlier, and sometimes it felt like Cowan had forgotten at times that she was no longer his assistant, with the way he piled things up on her. When her phone rang a few seconds later, Paige was almost grateful for the distraction.

"Hello?" she said, absently, as she snatched up the handset.

"Paige, thank God." The woman on the other end of the line sounded frantic, and Paige bolted upright at her tone.

"Sister Agnes?" she asked. "Sister, what's wrong?"

"You told me to call you if I saw Emily Mayes," Sister Agnes said, and Paige jerked out her chair, snagging her coat from where she'd thrown it over the back of the seat.

"She's there right now?" she asked, as she shoved her arms into the coat. "Sister, can you keep Emily at the church until I get there?"

"I'll do my best," Sister Agnes promised, and Paige thanked her, quickly, before she hung up the phone.

She crossed the office to Cowan's office, knocking lightly on the door and poking her head into the office.

"Emily Mayes just resurfaced," she said, and something like hope flared up in the older man's eyes. "She's at the church over on Oak."

"Go get her," Cowan said, and Paige dashed out of the office without another word.

In the car, she dialed Henry's cell phone, tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel as she waited for him to pick up.

"Hey, it's me," she said, when she heard his distant greeting on the other end of the line. "Can you meet me at the church on Oak Street? I need your help. Emily's back."

"Paige?" came the confused reply, and she sighed.

"Who else?" she asked, not expecting an answer. "Church on Oak. Yes or no?"

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Henry told her, and Paige hung up without another word.

She didn't bother to keep track of the traffic laws she broke on the way to the church. She just drove, and prayed that she got there before Emily took off, again.

Emily Mayes had been her first real case as a social worker. Sixteen, pregnant, alone – Paige had been more than able to empathize with the girl. Emily had been kicked out of her house by her religiously-fanatical father, she'd been trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, and she'd had no one to turn to.

She'd turned up at Social Services one afternoon, and Paige had been given her case. She'd worked on gaining her trust, for nearly three weeks, had put the girl up in her own apartment to keep a better eye on her (and breaking about a dozen regulations in the process). And then one day, while she'd been at work, Emily's boyfriend had tracked her down and beaten her bloody – and Emily had disappeared.

Paige hadn't known whether the girl was alive or dead until this moment; all she'd had to go on from her apartment was a broken front door and a bloody knife in the kitchen. She'd looked for Emily, everywhere, had begged everyone she knew to keep their eyes out for her, but as the months had gone on, she'd all but given up hope that Emily had survived.

Sister Agnes had just given her back that hope.

She threw her car into park outside the church, giving an involuntary shiver at the way the gargoyles seemed to be staring down at her.

_'The gargoyles are not alive,'_ she told herself, firmly, quashing the childhood fear that had prevented her from entering the church when she was nine. _'They are not going to swoop down and eat you.'_

Squaring her shoulders, Paige marched past the gargoyles and into the church. She paused inside the door to let her eyes adjust to the light, and then she headed for the office at the back of the church. Inside the office, she found Sister Agnes, and a teenage girl hunched over in her chair, her long, red hair hanging in front of her face, hiding her from view. Her arms were wrapped protectively around her distended stomach.

"Emily?" Paige ventured, and the girl jerked her head up, staring at Paige like she'd seen a ghost.

"I'm not going back," she snapped, angrily, glaring at Paige, who shot Sister Agnes a baffled look.

"Back where, Em?" she asked, confused.

"You're here to take me back to my father," Emily snarled, her delicate features twisting into an ugly grimace. "I'm not going back."

"I'm not taking you back to your father," Paige hastened to reassure the girl. "Besides, even if I tried, you'd just run away again, wouldn't you?"

Emily nodded, emphatically, and Paige sighed as she took the seat that Sister Agnes indicated, across from the teenager.

"I'm just here to talk, Em," she said, quietly.

"I don't need you," Emily snapped, her voice wavering despite her words. "I can take care of myself, and my baby."

"I don't doubt it," Paige told her. "But, maybe there are people out there who want to take care of you."

"Like who?" Emily muttered, flinching away from Paige when she reached out to take her hand.

"Like me," Paige said, softly. "I care about you, Em. I want to know that you're safe."

"I was supposed to be safe at your apartment," Emily sniped at her, and Paige could feel her heart sink in her chest.

"Emily-"

"You promised me that I would be safe!" the girl raged at her, her hands clenched into fists as she jumped up from her chair. "You swore that no one would be able to find me. But, Troy did, and he hurt me-"

"I'm sorry," Paige whispered, catching the girl into a fierce hug. "Emily, I am so, so sorry."

Emily just shook her head, shoving Paige away and bolting out of the office. Paige sighed, following behind her, and then she froze in shock when she realized that Emily was standing completely still in the middle of the aisle – so still she wasn't even breathing.

"Emily?" Paige demanded, rushing to the girl's side, and then she sighed when she caught sight of Piper and Phoebe standing a short distance away. "What did you do to her?" she demanded, angrily, knowing that the older women just had to have something to do with this. It was too big a coincidence, otherwise.

"What makes you think we did anything?" Piper asked, clearly bluffing, but Paige just leveled a glare at her, crossing her arms over her chest.

"She froze them," Phoebe spoke up, when it became clear that neither Paige nor Piper was willing to break their silent standoff.

_'Them?'_ Paige thought, and then she turned around to see Sister Agnes standing in the doorway to the office, one foot raised to take the next step.

"You froze a nun?" Paige yelled, whirling back around her face the women.

"Yeah, lucky I didn't blow them up," Piper said, with a shrug. "My powers have been kind of off, lately."

"Blow them up?" Paige echoed. There was a faint roaring in her ears, the usual indicator that she was getting pissed beyond belief. But, unlike usual, she didn't feel the rush of her power filling her, threatening to explode from within her. No lightning sparked at her hands, and she had yet to light anything on fire.

Which was good, because, with the way she felt at that moment, she ran the very real risk of doing her new sisters some very real damage.

"Undo it," she ordered, brusquely, gesturing at Emily and Sister Agnes. "Whatever you did to freeze them, you need to undo it."

"We need to talk to you," Phoebe protested, and Paige shot her a glare.

"I don't care," she said, quietly. "Take this freeze off them. Now."

"They're fine," Piper said, dismissively, and Paige breathed slowly, in and out, for several seconds, to keep from yelling at the older woman. "Look, Paige, you're in danger."

"The only thing I'm in danger of is losing my temper," Paige informed them, curtly.

"This is serious," Piper snapped at her. "There's a demon after you. The Source of All Evil. He wants your power; wants all of our powers."

"I don't-" Paige snapped, but Phoebe cut her off.

"The Source is the one who sent Shax after us," Phoebe interrupted her, softly. "He's the reason that Prue is dead."

_'Damn it,' _Paige thought, furiously, tears springing unbidden to her eyes. She dashed them away with the back of her hand. _'Damn it, Prue. Damn you for leaving me, like this.'_

"What do you want?" she asked, only a hint of a tremor in her voice betraying the emotion that threatened to escape.

"We just wanted to make sure that you're okay," Phoebe said.

"I'm fine," Paige told her, and figured it had to have been genetic, the way that neither Piper or Phoebe looked like they believed the words, just like Prue had never believed her. Either that, or she really was that bad of a liar. "Now, would you please unfreeze Emily and Sister Agnes?"

"The Source is going to come after you," Piper warned her, and Paige held up a hand, summoning a bit of electricity to her fingers. She frowned when it took more effort than it usually did, but after a few seconds, sparks were jumping between her fingers.

"I'm not exactly helpless," she pointed out, closing her fingers into a fist and letting the sparks die.

"You, um," Phoebe spoke up, "you have Prue's power, too. At least, if you really are a Charmed One, and we never could have vanquished Shax if you weren't."

"What power is that?" Paige asked, curious despite herself.

"Telekinesis," Piper told her. "She could move things with her mind. You should be able to do the same."

"How?" Paige asked.

"Well," Phoebe said, looking around, "you just pick something, like that candle over there, and you wave your hand at it."

Feeling extremely foolish, Paige did as instructed, but nothing happened.

"She used to squint her eyes, too," Piper added, helpfully, and if the situation had been different, Paige would have been sure that the older women were trying to pull some kind of prank on her.

But, she obligingly squinted in the direction of the aforementioned candle, flapping her hand impatiently at it when it stubbornly refused to move.

"Maybe it didn't work," she said, with a sigh. "Maybe I don't have Prue's power, if I can't even move _that_ candle-"

Then, her jaw dropped open in shock as the candle was surrounded by orbs, disappearing from the holder it had been sitting on. A second later, it rematerialized in the palm of her hand, solid and heavy. Phoebe grinned at her, taking the candle from her and blowing out the flame.

"Maybe the Whitelighter in her makes it work differently?" she suggested to Piper, like Paige wasn't standing right there.

"Half breed," Piper muttered, and Paige glared at her, insulted by the tone in Piper's voice.

"All right, fun's over," she started, but then the rest of what she was going to say was cut off by a horrendous screaming sound. "What the hell is that?" she yelped, her hands flying up to cover her ears.

"Gargoyles," Phoebe whispered, and Paige stared at her in disbelief because, of course. _Of course_, in a world where witches and demons were real, the freaking gargoyles had to be alive.

"Oh my god," a voice gasped from behind her, and Paige whirled around to see Emily, unfrozen and staring at the still-frozen Sister Agnes with a look of sheer terror in her eyes.

"Emily," Paige started, but the girl backed away from her when she tried to get closer, her hands held up protectively in front of her chest.

"What is this?" she demanded, a hysterical note in her voice. "What's going on?"

"Emily, I can explain," Paige tried, but the girl wasn't listening to her.

She stumbled backwards, away from Paige, and fell heavily against the edge of a pew. Picking herself up before Paige could get there, she turned on her heel and bolted down the aisle, heading for the doors. The doors slammed open before she even got there, but Emily just kept running, bumping into a startled Henry and nearly knocking him back down the steps in her haste to get away.

"Paige, what's going on?" Henry asked, his face screwed up in a grimace at the sound of the unearthly screaming that filled the air.

"That's Emily," Paige said, gesturing in the direction the girl had gone in, and cursing when she didn't see her. "I have to find her, she's in trouble."

"All right," Henry said, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the steps. "Let's go; you drive."

Paige nodded, leading the way to her car and ignoring the distant shouts of her sisters, behind her. Source of All Evil be damned; Emily needed her help, and she wasn't going to let some demon stand in her way.


	17. Chapter 17

**Warning: **Some violence at the end of the chapter

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

"How could you just let Paige leave?"

Piper glared at Leo from where she was pacing across the conservatory. "We didn't just let her leave," she informed her husband. "She ran out the door after some kid."

"And we couldn't exactly stop her," Phoebe added, from where she was lying on the couch, "because something pretty powerful knocked us on our asses."

"And you're sure it was the Source?" Leo asked, a dubious tone in his voice.

"Well, the gargoyles weren't exactly whistling Dixie, Leo," Phoebe muttered.

She shot Leo her own glare from her reclining position, but the effect was somewhat ruined by the ice pack she had over her forehead. She lifted two fingers to massage away the ache in her temples, groaning softly.

"God, my head hurts," she mumbled.

Suddenly, Cole shimmered into the room, spinning away from the spot where he'd been standing, and throwing an energy ball into the space where another demon was materializing. The demon materialized with the energy ball inside him, making him explode from the inside out. Piper took care of the second demon that shimmered in, blowing him up and sending thick, green ichor spraying around the room.

There was a moment of silence, and then Phoebe spoke up. "That didn't really help my headache."

"Thanks," Cole said to Piper, as he sat down on the couch, moving Phoebe's feet to rest them in his lap. "You're never going to guess what I found out, down there."

"Well?" Piper said, impatiently. "Don't keep us in suspense."

"From the rumors I heard down there," Cole told them, "the Source isn't trying to kill your sister. He's trying to corrupt her."

"Corrupt her?" Phoebe echoed, opening one eye to look at her boyfriend.

"He wants to turn Paige evil," Cole replied. "And, if he can manage to corrupt her, then he's got a clear path to the two of you, as well."

Piper and Phoebe exchanged incredulous looks.

"We need to find her," Piper declared. "How are we going to find her?"

"Paige is my charge," Leo pointed out. "I can sense her."

"So, where is she?" Piper demanded, barely a second later.

"Give me a minute," Leo said, softly, closing his eyes in concentration. "I – I don't know," he said, his eyes flying open in alarm. "I can't sense her. This shouldn't be happening. Only someone or something with really powerful magic can block me from my charge."

"Like the Source?" Phoebe asked, and Leo nodded.

"If he's already found Paige," Cole spoke up, "he could be shielding her."

"But, Paige would never let a demon get close to her," Phoebe argued. "Especially one that looks like the Source." She shivered in remembrance of the imposing demon she'd seen down in the Underworld.

"But, he wouldn't look like a demon," Cole protested. "He can possess people, and if he found a host that Paige would be willing to trust-"

"We need to get to her," Phoebe said, jumping up from the couch and hooking her arm through Piper's, dragging her older sister toward the attic. "Come on, we're hitting the Book."

Ten minutes later, Piper gave up and slammed the Book shut, glaring down at the cover in disgust.

"This is useless," she declared.

"Don't give up," Phoebe said, crossing to her side and throwing her arm over Piper's shoulders. "Maybe all we need to find Paige is a little _help_."

She winked at Piper as she emphasized the last word, and no sooner had she finished speaking than the cover of the Book flew open and the pages started flipping, coming to rest after a few seconds. Phoebe looked at the page it was open to, her triumphant expression fading to confusion a moment later.

"Enchantment spell? This isn't going to help us find Paige," she said, and Piper peered over her shoulder at the spell.

"No," she said, slowly, "but it might help us identify the Source. See this last line? So she can reveal the evil within."

"Okay," Phoebe replied, "but that still leaves us with the same problem. What good is it going to do to identify the Source, if we can't even find him in the first place?"

"I can find him," Cole spoke up, quietly. "Demons can sense the Source's aura. It's how he reminds us of his power."

"Hey, speaking of finding things," Piper interrupted. "What did you do to Inspector Cortez?"

"Memory dust," Leo answered, from where he was standing beside the window. "Cole and I went after him in Africa, and I used memory dust on him. It took some careful manipulation, but he doesn't remember anything about what he saw in the attic, last night."

"Does he still suspect us for Prue's murder?" Piper asked, darkly.

"Everything's been taken care of," Leo reassured her. "Cortez is not going to be an issue, any more."

"Back to the demon at hand," Phoebe said, briskly, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Cole, you can't track down the Source. He'll find you and kill you."

"Not if I'm careful," Cole countered. "Besides, if I don't do this, then he'll kill your sister. Or worse."

Phoebe glared at Cole, but then, reluctantly, she nodded.

"Okay, so we need something to enchant," Piper said, looking around the attic, and then she snatched a pair of pink glasses off the bookcase. "What about these?"

"They're hideous," Phoebe declared.

"We're fighting the Source of All Evil," Piper retorted, "not walking down the catwalk at Milan. Where's that spell?"

She and Phoebe looked over at the Book, each of them taking hold of the glasses.

_"Magic forces far and wide,  
Enchant these so those can't hide.  
Allow this witch to use therein,  
So she can reveal the evil within."_

Phoebe took the glasses and placed them on her face, looking around the attic. Her gaze landed on Leo, and she frowned.

"It didn't work," she said, disappointment in her voice. "Leo still looks the same."

"Because Leo's not evil," Piper pointed out, smacking her younger sister on the arm. "What about Cole?"

"Hey, I resent that," Cole grumbled, as Phoebe looked in his direction. A second later, she yelped and yanked the glasses off her face.

"I take that to mean that it worked?" Piper asked, rhetorically.

"How'd I look?" Cole asked, curiously.

"Like hell," Phoebe retorted, as she folded the glasses up and placed them in her pocket. "Thanks, Grams," she added, softly, brushing her hand across the open Book.

"How do you know that it wasn't someone else?" Piper asked, nodding up at the ceiling. "Come on," she went on. "Let's go save our baby sister."

* * *

"How many more places are you going to check?"

The Source struggled to keep the impatience out of his voice, but he suspected that he hadn't been successful, from the suspicious look that Paige shot him. But, she just sighed and didn't say anything, proving that he'd chosen wisely for his host. With anyone else, he suspected that she would have been questioning him; but with this one, she was putty in his hands.

"I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I know we've been looking for a while, but I just can't give up, you know? I let Emily get away once, and god only knows what she went through for all those months. I can't leave her alone to face that, again. I have to find her."

"And I'll help you for however long it takes," the Source replied, because that was what was expected of him.

But, he was starting to get bored with the situation. It had been amusing, at first, to watch the witch wander around aimlessly, with no idea of where she was going, or what she was getting herself into. But he was never going to have the chance to corrupt the witch, at this rate, and the longer she remained on the side of the Light, the stronger her bond with her sisters would grow.

And he absolutely could not let that happen.

Dropping back as the witch kept walking down the street, he focused on the girl that she was searching for. It was fairly easy, the girl had a latent magical potential that had clung to him after she'd bumped into him at that church, a potential that he could sense even with those damned gargoyles doing their best to cripple him. And it was a matter of seconds to locate the girl, and then transport himself to where she was.

He lucked out. Not only did he find the girl, but he found a hulking young man threatening the child with a long knife, a vicious snarl twisting his lips as he backed her into a corner in a dark alleyway. The Source found himself rather impressed by the mortal man, by the coldness in his eyes as he stared down at his prey, and the inventive and vile threats that he threw at the girl. He didn't even think that he was going to have to do all that much to get what he wanted.

_'Should recruit this one, when I'm done,'_ he thought, idly. _'He'd make a fine demon.'_

For now, though, he had work to do. He stepped up behind the young man, keeping himself invisible so that neither mortal could see him, and then he leaned close and started whispering in the young man's ear. He didn't have to coerce, or even order, the young man to do his bidding, such was the dark nature of his soul. He just planted a few creative suggestions into the young man's head, and then he stood back and watched him work.

And glorious it was. The young man had hardly required any prompting to step forward and put his knife to good use, carving into the girl like the mortals did their Thanksgiving turkey. It was almost a shame to have to stop him, to have to render the young man unconscious and put out such an inhuman fire. But, he couldn't have the girl dying before he was ready; not if he wanted to truly corrupt the witch.

He looked down at the girl, lying, bleeding and broken, in a crumpled heap at his feet, and prodded her still form with his foot. Then, he pulled his host's phone out of the man's pocket, scowling at the device before finally figuring out how to dial the witch.

"Paige," he said, before the witch could speak, "I've found her. I've found Emily. You need to come quickly, it's bad."

Then, he hung up the phone with a satisfied smirk and waited for the witch to arrive.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

The phone went dead in her ear, and Paige stared down at the quiet device in horror. Emily and bad, two words that she'd never hoped to hear in the same sentence, ever again. She'd already failed the girl, once, letting Troy find Emily, letting him hurt her, after she'd promised that she would be safe. And now, it looked like she'd failed her, again. Her heart was racing as she orbed to where Henry was.

A second later, she could feel it stop.

"Emily," she gasped, in shock, falling to her knees beside the girl's too-still form and pulling her into her arms. "Oh god, Em. I'm so sorry, honey. I'm so sorry."

The teenager was barely breathing, her heartbeat sluggish and faint under Paige's questing fingers. She bit back a sob as she stared at the blood covering the girl's body, blood pouring from too many bone-deep cuts for Paige to even try and stop.

"How?" she demanded, tears choking her, as she looked up at Henry, and he wordlessly stepped out of the way, pointing to an unconscious form on the ground behind him.

"He did it," Henry said, tonelessly. "I found him hacking the girl to bits. It was gruesome."

Paige stared at Troy Camden's unmoving body, feeling rage build up within her. Emily had told her, more than once, how Troy had threatened to kill her if she'd ever left him, had even detailed the way he would do it. And now it seemed he had.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, to Emily, burying her face into the girl's hair. "God, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."

She startled at the feel of Henry's hand on her shoulder, lifting her own, shaking hand to cover his. She waited for him to squeeze her hand, to say something, _anything_, but he was strangely silent, and she looked up at him in confusion, shivering involuntarily at the emotionless mask on his face.

"He killed her," Henry said, softly, and Paige turned to look back at Troy's body. "She's dying because of him, and he deserves to be punished."

Paige swallowed, hard, her protests dying in her throat as Henry gently squeezed the back of her neck. Everything went blurry for a moment, and her mind felt suddenly foggy. She couldn't concentrate. She shook her head, trying to clear away the fog.

"Use your power," Henry whispered, his voice startling close to her ear. "Use your power to call for his heart. Make him pay. Make him suffer."

"I can't-" Paige whimpered, her grip tightening on Emily as she stared at Troy. "I have to call the police, I have to get Emily to a hospital-"

"You have to make him pay," Henry whispered. "He deserves it. He deserves to die. Call for his heart."

"I should call the police," Paige protested, weakly, unable to think of a stronger retort than that. Everything was spinning, and she felt like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff.

"And let him get away?" Henry asked, his voice low and intense. "Because that's what's going to happen. He's going to get away, and he's going to do this to some other poor girl. And it'll be all your fault, unless you stop him. Right here, right now. Call for his heart."

There was a voice in the back of her mind insisting that she knew that this wasn't right. That she knew that was she was about to do was wrong. But, the voice was barely a whisper, and she was too far gone to listen.

"Heart," she murmured, holding her hand out and watching Troy's body jerk on the ground in response to her call. "Heart."

"Again," Henry murmured, his grip tightening on her neck, when she hesitated. "Show him no mercy. After all, he didn't show her any."

"Heart," Paige said, only wondering for a moment why her voice caught on the word, why it was so hard to say. "Heart."

The boy's body spasmed, again, a low moan being ripped from his throat. His eyes were open, and she could see confusion and pain reflected in the dark orbs. And she faltered.

"Again!" Henry hissed, when she stopped. "Don't let him get away with it."

"I – no," Paige forced out, seeing the boy suffering in front of her. "I can't-"

"Yes, you can," Henry repeated, impatiently.

"The hell she is," a new voice spoke up, and Paige looked up, startled, at the sound of the familiar, beloved voice. "Get your hands off my sister," Prue growled, her spectral form hanging in the air in front of them.

"You're dead," Henry said, flatly, and Prue let out a low, humorless laugh.

"And you'd know all about that," she said, staring at him like she was contemplating an interesting bug. "Wouldn't you?"

"I killed you," Henry snarled, and Paige twisted around to see cold hatred in her best friend's eyes.

"You're him," she said, frantically, even as she tightened her grip on Emily and started to drag the girl away. "You're the Source."

"Oh, very good," the Source said, sarcastically, clapping slowly and dramatically. "You know, you're not nearly as stupid as you look, witch."

"Get the hell out of him," Paige growled, and the Source raised an eyebrow at her.

"But, I'm so comfortable, here," he said, mockingly.

"It's over," Prue snapped, from behind Paige. "You've lost. You're not getting your hands on my sister."

The Source smirked, and Henry's body seemed to shimmer all over with a dark light. Then, Henry collapsed to the ground, unconscious, leaving a menacing, cloaked figure standing in front of them. He formed a fireball in the palm of his hand, staring down at Paige.

"You won't be the first Charmed One to die by my hand," he told her, and then he threw the fireball.

Paige cringed back, instinctively covering Emily's body with her own, but the fireball never made it. It seemed to bounce off mid-air, flying back the Source, who disappeared before it could hit him, and Paige craned her head around to see Prue holding her hand out to deflect the fireball.

"Prue?" she whispered, and her best friend – and oldest sister – smiled down at her.

"Hey, sweetie," she said, her voice a slight echo. "Long time, no see."

"Prue, how-" Paige started to demand, but then Emily moaned in her arms, and all of her attention shifted back to the dying teenager. "Emily. Emily, oh god, hang on, honey. Damn it," she swore, as she scrabbled around in her bag, "where's my damn cell phone?"

"Paige," Prue said, and she jerked her head up to stare at the transparent form of her sister. "Paige, call for Leo." Before Paige could say anything, Prue went on, "If you've ever trusted me, then trust me now. Call for Leo; he'll hear you."

"Leo!" Paige hollered, feeling a sob catch in her throat. "Leo, please, I need you!"

Emily whimpered softly at the sound of her voice, and Paige tried to blink back the tears cascading down her cheeks.

"Shh, sweetie," she crooned, as she hitched the girl up higher against her chest. "I'm here. I'm right here. You're going to be okay."

She heard another, deeper groan, and she twisted around to see Henry trying to push himself up from the pavement. He had blood dripping from a gash on his forehead, and his hands were shaking as he tried to wipe the blood away. After a second, he slumped weakly back to the ground, his eyes fluttering shut.

"Henry, no!" Paige called out, her voice sharp. "Wake up!" But, he remained motionless on the ground, and Paige felt utterly helpless. "Leo!" she yelled, again, and her voice cracked on the word. "Leo, please!"

_'I have to do something,'_ she thought, desperately. _'I can't let them die. I can't.'_

She could feel her heart thudding painfully in her chest, a roaring that filled her ears and made her dizzy. Something seemed to explode out of her, and she sagged over, weakly, barely keeping herself upright. Bright spots danced in the corners of her eyes.

"Paige?" she heard Prue say, sounding alarmed, but she didn't have the strength to lift her head. As the world went black, the last thing she heard was Prue's, "Oh, shit!"


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: **Thanks to my readers and reviewers. You guys are awesome.

* * *

Prue had never felt more helpless as she did at that moment, watching her sister collapse to the pavement. Paige's skin held an ashy pallor, like all of the color had been leeched out of her face, and she slumped, unmoving, on the ground. Prue could also see the magic – the very life – pouring out of her youngest sister, and she didn't have the faintest clue how to stop it.

But she knew that she just couldn't sit by and do nothing.

Prue knelt down behind Paige, wrapping her arms around the younger woman before she remembered that she no longer had a physical form. Cursing herself for her forgetfulness, she tried again, this time letting her hands hover over Paige's chest, which was barely rising in slow, shallow breaths.

She couldn't actually touch Paige, but she could do what Paige had done to Emily and Henry, forcing her own magic into Paige's failing body. The difference being that hers was a controlled effort, rather than the wild spillage coming from Paige. Not that it helped, really; Paige's magic was still spilling out of her, it was just slowed down by Prue's efforts. Paige needed more help than Prue could give her; she needed Leo.

"Come on, Leo," Prue muttered, under her breath, as she kept carefully feeding energy into Paige, trying to keep her alive. "Come on. You can sense her. You have to."

But, she didn't know if the Whitelighter would be able to, or not. Before, the Source had been blocking Paige, the stink of his evil magic permeating the air around them. And now – Paige was so weak, had lost so much energy so fast, that Prue didn't know if Leo could find her. Prue pushed more energy into her baby sister, hoping that their combined magics would be enough for Leo to sense them.

A low moan drew her attention away from Paige, over to where Henry was slowly pushing himself up from the pavement. The gash in his forehead was almost completely healed, only a thin, pale scar marking its path up into his hairline. His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at Prue's transparent form, at Paige and Emily slumped on the ground in front of her.

"Prue?" he demanded, incredulously. "Is Paige-"

"She's hanging in there," Prue reassured him, hastily. "Henry, how do you feel?"

"Confused," came the reply. "I don't-" He trailed off, his eyes widening in horror as he remembered exactly what had happened. "Oh, god, what did I do?"

"That wasn't you," Prue said, her voice sharp, to get his attention. "Henry, that wasn't you; you were possessed by a demon."

"I-" Henry started, but Prue wasn't going to let him fall apart.

"I need you to stay with me, here," she snapped, briskly. "Henry, you need to get that kid out of here before he wakes up and goes after this girl, again."

Henry looked back at Troy, where the boy was slowly stirring, his eyes hardening as he took in the blood on the boy's hands. He pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his back pocket, hauling Troy to his feet and slapping the handcuffs on his wrists, ignoring the boy's indignant protests.

"You're under arrest," he said, his voice harsh. "You have the right to remain silent; anything you say-"

After he'd finished reading the boy his rights, Henry glanced over at her, Paige, and Emily, a clear question in his eyes.

"I'll take care of them," Prue said, softly, before Henry could say anything. "I promise, Henry."

"You're dead," Henry said, just as quietly, a waver in his voice and tears in his eyes that he quickly blinked away.

"Yeah," Prue agreed.

"I miss you," Henry went on, his voice rough. "I'm sorry."

Then, he frog-marched Troy away from the scene, his hands tight on the boy's arms to keep him from trying to get away. Prue turned her attention back to Paige and Emily, back to feeding energy into Paige to try and keep her alive. She lost herself in the effort, only coming back to herself when she heard the faint jingle of an approaching orb.

"Thank god," Prue muttered, as Leo and Piper orbed into the alleyway, with Phoebe and Cole shimmering in a couple of seconds later. "Leo," Prue snapped, urgently. "She's dying."

Leo snapped his head around at the sound of her voice, his eyes narrowing as he stared at her. Prue unconsciously glanced down at her hands, realizing that she'd expended enough energy into Paige that she was fading away. Soon, she wouldn't be strong enough to keep herself on this plane of existence. Leo's Whitelighter abilities were the only thing that allowed him to see her; her sisters and Cole couldn't see her, at all.

"Leo, hurry," she implored him, and Leo nodded, distractedly, as he knelt down next to Paige and Emily, holding a hand over both of their foreheads.

"I've got them," he murmured, reassuringly. Locking eyes with her, he added, softly, "It's okay. You can let go, now."

As he started to heal the women, Prue released her hold on Paige. She stepped back, watching as Piper and Phoebe dropped to the ground next the unconscious woman, concern on their faces. She reached out toward her sisters, feeling utterly helpless when her hands passed through Piper's shoulders like she wasn't even there.

"Piper, Phoebe," she said, sadly, but none of her sisters could hear her. "I'm sorry," she went on, after a moment. Even if they didn't hear her, she still needed to say it. "I didn't want to leave you. I hope you know that."

"They do," a familiar voice murmured, from behind her, and Prue looked up as a hand dropped onto her shoulder, her mother standing behind her with a sympathetic look on her face. "They know."

At the sound of Paige's voice, Prue looked back down to where her youngest sister was sitting up with Leo's help, a confused look on her face.

"Go slow," Leo was saying, quietly. "You almost died, Paige. You need to take it easy."

"Emily-" Paige protested, stubbornly.

"I'm over here, Paige," the girl spoke up, from where she was curled up against Piper and Phoebe. "I'm okay, I think. And so is my baby. I'm not sure how-"

"Magic," Piper interjected, a protective arm slung around the girl's shoulders.

"Where's Henry?" Paige asked, suddenly, looking around, her eyes widening at the sight of the blood on the pavement.

"I'll find him," Leo promised Paige. "You need to rest. I'm serious," he added, sternly, when she tried to get up. "What part of 'almost died' don't you get?"

"It's time to go," Patty interrupted, quietly, and Prue looked back at her, startled.

"But," she protested, glancing back at her sisters. "But, I'm not done."

"None of us ever are," Patty told her.

"I have to help them," Prue insisted, but Patty shook her head, sadly. Behind her, Prue could see a bright, white vortex forming in the air.

"This isn't your fight, any longer," she said, gently. "It's theirs."

"I don't want to go," Prue said, plaintively, but she could feel herself being inexorably pulled toward the vortex.

"It's time," was all Patty said, and after a few moments, Prue finally nodded, reaching out and clasping the hand that her mother held out to her.

"Are you ready?" Patty asked, and Prue took a moment to consider her answer.

"No," she finally said, honestly. "But, I think you're right; it's my time."

Then, she and Patty stepped through the vortex, into the unknown…


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

* * *

The next morning, Paige pulled her car to a stop outside Sharon and Jim's house. She twisted around in her seat to look at Emily, who was regarding the house like it was primed to explode at any moment.

"You okay?" she asked, sympathetically, and the girl shook her head, minutely. She looked faintly green.

"Are you sure they want me?" she asked, in a tiny voice.

"They're ecstatic," Henry reassured Emily, from where he was sitting in the front passenger seat. "All night long, I was fielding phone calls from Mom about you and the baby. I will warn you, now, she has a tendency to go overboard."

"With the best of intentions," Paige said, quickly, seeing the panicked look on Emily's face. "You ready to go meet the family?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Emily finally replied.

"That's the spirit," Paige said, encouragingly, as all three of them got out of the car. "Trust me, Em. You are in good hands. The best."

Emily finally nodded, climbing out of the backseat and starting slowly up the path to the house. Henry joined her, slinging an arm around the girl's shoulders as they walked, her duffel bag over his other arm. Paige watched them go with a small smile.

She'd spent the night sitting beside Emily's bed in the hospital, after convincing the girl to be admitted overnight, to let Ava keep an eye on her and her baby. She'd worked all night to get Emily set up with a foster family, but she hadn't even thought about Sharon and Jim until she'd gotten a call from the older woman offering their spare bedroom. They were still qualified as foster parents, and they'd been more than willing to help the girl out. Now, she just had to hope that she could convince Emily that it was a good thing.

Getting out of the car, Paige walked up to the house in time to hear Sharon scolding Henry, her arms folded across her chest.

"-can't even call-"

"Mom, you're all the way out in Berkeley," Henry protested, weakly, but Sharon clearly wasn't buying it.

"Your sister lives in New York," she retorted, "and she finds the time to call me, every week."

"Oh, that's nice," Paige commented, getting an irritated look from Henry.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side?" he muttered, and Paige laughed.

"I agree with Sharon," she retorted, cheerfully. "Sorry, but you're on your own, here."

"They're ganging up on me," Henry said mournfully to Emily, who was watching them with wide eyes. She chuckled, weakly, after a moment, giving him a small smile.

"I think I agree with your mom, too," she said, softly, and Paige grinned.

"You are sorely outnumbered, my friend," she told Henry, teasingly. "You might as well just admit defeat, now."

Henry groaned, throwing his hands up in the air in surrender. He led Emily into the house, with Paige and Sharon trailing behind them. Paige drifted away from them to wander into the living room, over to the wall of pictures that dominated the room.

Her gaze was immediately drawn to a picture of her, Henry, Prue, and Pax at her little girl's second birthday party. Pax was covered in chocolate cake, smears of icing on her cheeks. Paige and Prue both had their arms wrapped around Pax, and Henry around all three of them. They were all beaming at the camera.

"I'm so sorry," Paige whispered, running her fingers over the glass covering Prue's picture.

"All right," Henry said, suddenly from behind her, making her jump at the sound of his voice, "Mom's getting Emily settled into her room – hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Paige said, blinking away the tears that clouded her vision. "Just – just thinking."

"About Prue?" Henry asked, sympathetically, wrapping his arms around her in a pose reminiscent of the picture they were looking at. Paige sighed, leaning back against his chest.

"All this time," she said, softly, "and we never knew the truth. We never knew we were sisters."

"You were always sisters," Henry told her. "There was never any doubt of that."

"She called me the day she died," Paige said, a wistful note in her voice. "I still have her message on my voicemail. I kept listening to it last night, over and over." She faltered, closing her eyes for a moment, and then she went on. "There are some days – when I wake up, I can't remember my mom's voice, or the sound of Pax's laughter. I can't – I can't stand to forget Prue, too."

"You won't," Henry said, reassuringly. "I won't ever let you forget."

* * *

The music inside P3 was pounding, but Piper and Phoebe paid the noise no attention. They slipped through the crowds on the dance floor, moving to their usual table in the secluded far corner, the one with a view of the rest of the club. A few minutes later, they were joined by Leo and Cole, who flanked them in the booth.

"Thanks," Piper said, accepting the glass that her husband held out to her.

"How are you holding up?" Leo asked, and Piper shot him a wry look.

"Like you really need to ask?" she said, quietly.

"It's hard," Phoebe spoke up, from where she was snuggled up against Cole's side. "Everything's been so crazy since Prue's funeral, and it feels like we've barely had any time to mourn. But, I guess now that Shax is dead, we'll have the rest of our lives for it."

"Not until the Source is dead," Piper said, her voice hard for a moment. "We have to vanquish him. For Prue."

"We can't do that without Paige," Phoebe pointed out, and then Cole nodded at the doorway.

"Speak of the devil-slash-witch-slash-Whitelighter," he murmured.

They watched as the younger woman slowly made her way down the stairs into the club. She was alone, but she was quickly joined by a young man with short dark hair. The pair spoke for a few seconds, Paige slowly shaking her head, and then the young man's shoulders slumped. He jabbed a finger at Paige, an angry expression on his face, but Paige just shook her head, again, saying something that made the young man stalk up the stairs, alone. Paige watched him go, a wistful expression on her face.

She reached their table a few seconds later, biting her lip, hesitantly. Cole stood, offering her his seat next to Phoebe, who moved over to give Paige space to sit down.

"I figured I'd find you guys here," she said, quietly.

"Well, I do own the place," Piper quipped, and Paige gave her a weak smile.

"Who was that?" Phoebe asked, curiously, nodding in the direction the young man had gone, and Paige looked toward the door with something like regret in her eyes.

"He _was_ my boyfriend," she said, heavy emphasis on the past tense. "But, he was with me on the roof when that demon attacked the other night, and he saw my powers-"

"I used memory dust on him," Leo interjected, sounding worried, and Paige nodded.

"He may have forgotten what he saw," she said, quietly, "but I can't forget his reaction. He'll probably never be able to accept who I am, and he shouldn't have to. He deserves someone normal, someone who isn't constantly battling the forces of evil."

"I'm sorry," Piper said, sympathetically.

"I wasn't looking for forever with Shane," Paige commented. "I'm just sorry that it had to end like this."

"Hazard of the job, unfortunately," Phoebe replied. "We've all seen relationships go down the drain due to magic. Especially Piper," she added, a teasing note in her voice.

"Maybe," Piper conceded, "but magic also led me to my soul mate-"

"And mine," Phoebe chimed in.

"So, there's hope for your romantic future, yet," Piper finished.

"Can I ask you something?" Phoebe asked, leaning toward Paige, a curious expression on her face. "You said at the funeral that you knew Prue. Were you friends?"

"For a few years," Paige nodded. "We were close. She was like family, and I wanted to say goodbye."

Piper exchanged a look with Phoebe, who nodded, seeming to have the same idea that she did. Paige watched them with an upraised eyebrow, quietly waiting for an explanation.

"Come with us," Piper said, rather than assuaging Paige's obvious curiosity.

"Where?" Paige asked, even as she slid out of the booth and followed her sisters across the floor to the exit.

"To meet the rest of the family," Phoebe told her, with a small smile.

They drove back to the Manor, Paige parking her tiny, green car on the street in front of the house, and then they went up to the attic. They crossed the attic to the lectern where the Book sat, and Paige looked idly out the window while Piper flipped through the pages, and Phoebe lit the candles that were still arranged in a circle in the middle of the floor.

"You ready?" Piper asked, when they reached the spell they wanted.

"I don't even know what you're doing," Paige pointed out, reasonably.

"You'll see," Phoebe said, and then she and Piper chanted the summoning spell in unison.

Bright lights formed in the middle of the candles, and Paige stared in amazement at the figure that appeared, her mouth falling open in shock.

"Paige?" Patty asked, a breathless note in her voice, and Paige stepped toward their mother, slowly.

"Mom?" she said, her voice shaky, and there was a glimmer of light as Patty stepped out of the candles, wrapping her arms around Paige in a hug.

"Welcome home, my darling," she murmured, as she held onto her youngest daughter. "Welcome home."

* * *

It was late by the time Paige left the Manor, but she didn't head back to her own apartment. Instead, she drove over to Henry's place, knocking lightly on the door. When she heard an indistinct noise, she let herself into the apartment, straining to see through the darkness that filled the space.

"Henry?" she called out, her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.

"Couch," came the quiet reply, and she made her way over to where he was sitting.

She could smell the alcohol when she got near him, could see the outline of a glass in his hand. But, as she sat down, she saw that the glass was empty, and the bottle on the coffee table in front of him was still full.

"You're rubbing off on me," Henry said, without preamble. "I just kept remembering all the fights you used to have with Nick over his drinking, and if there's one thing I don't ever want to be-"

"Nick will never be half the man you are," Paige told him, sitting down beside him. "And one glass is not going to turn you into him."

"Wasn't going to stop at just one," Henry admitted with a heavy sigh. He looked down listlessly at his hands, his shoulders slumped.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Paige asked, carefully, but Henry just mutely shook his head.

Paige nodded in understanding, reaching out and gently squeezing his hand. They sat together in silence for about half an hour before Henry finally said anything.

"I remember everything," he whispered, his voice hollow. "I remember everything he said to that boy, to make him hurt Emily, everything he made me do-"

"That wasn't you," Paige interrupted him, her voice low and fierce. "Nothing that happened today was your fault. None of it."

"Last night," Henry went on, like he hadn't heard her, "he stood over you and watched you sleep. And he talked about every single way that he could kill you, just to hear me scream. He had a knife to your throat, once – my hand-"

He broke off with a choked gasp, his chest heaving as he struggled for control. Paige shuddered at the images Henry's description conjured up, able to see all-too-clearly the Source using her best friend to threaten her life.

"You could have died," Henry went on, so quietly that she could barely hear him, "and I wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing about it."

"I'm fine, now," Paige said, weakly, trying to be reassuring. "Everything's fine."

"What if it's not?" Henry asked her. "Paige, this demon came after me in order to hurt you. What if some other demon tries it? And what if I actually do hurt you, next time?"

"There isn't going to be a next time," Paige told him. "Demons aren't getting their hands on you, again. Not if I can help it."

Henry just shook his head, staring down at the empty glass in his hands. "Maybe we should take some time apart," he ventured, without looking at her. "If I'm going to be a danger to you-"

"No," Paige snapped, fiercely, startling Henry into looking up at her. "Hell, no," she repeated emphatically.

"Paige, be reasonable-" Henry tried, and she glared at him.

"I am being reasonable," she practically growled. "This son of a bitch already took my sister, and I'll be damned if I let him take you away from me, too. I am not letting you go," she told him, firmly. "Not a chance in Hell."

"I could always run away to the other side of the world," Henry threatened, but there wasn't any heat in his words, and Paige could feel him relax against her side as he set the empty glass down on the table in front of them.

"You could try," Paige countered, wrapping an arm around him as he rested his head on her shoulder. "You're not going to get too far, though. I'd just orb your ass back home, no matter how long it took."

"I guess you're just going to be stuck with me, then," Henry said, with a quiet sigh.

His eyes were drooping closed as he spoke, and Paige figured he hadn't gotten any rest when he'd been possessed by the Source. She combed her fingers idly through his short hair, feeling him grow heavy against her side. She snagged one of the throw pillows from beside her, putting it on her lap as he slowly slid down onto the couch, completely asleep.

"Yeah," she agreed, softly. "I'm stuck with you."


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

_**Two Weeks Later**_

Parking her car on the street in front of the Manor, Paige jogged up to the front door and knocked a couple of times. She knocked, again, when there was no answer, and then rang the doorbell. When there was still no answer, she tried the doorknob, frowning when it turned easily under her hand.

Remembering all-too-well what had happened the last time she'd dropped by the Manor, unexpectedly, she called a small ball of electricity into the palm of her hand, frowning at the effort it took. She stepped cautiously through the door, wondering if she'd be able to get Henry to get her a concealed carry permit. If she was going to constantly be going into dangerous situations, she wanted to have more protection than just powers that she wasn't even sure she could rely on, anymore.

_'I wonder if demons are even affected by guns,'_ she thought, as she shut the door quietly behind her and moved slowly toward the stairs.

Then, she breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping as she watched Phoebe's demon boyfriend, Cole, come down the stairs.

"You people have _got_ to start locking that front door," she said, emphatically, as the older man stepped off the last step.

"If it's locked, demons just tend to bust it down," Cole explained.

"Speaking from experience?" Paige muttered, without thinking, but Cole didn't look offended. He just grinned.

"I've renounced my evil past," he assured her. "So, you can put that thing away," he added pointedly, and Paige crushed the ball of electricity in her fist. She hadn't even remembered that she was holding it.

"Sorry," Paige said, apologizing both for the electricity and the thoughtless comment.

"Your sisters are upstairs," Cole said, nodding up the stairs toward the attic. "You can go on up, if you like."

"Thanks," Paige said, climbing the stairs to the attic.

She found Piper and Phoebe in the middle of the room, Piper swinging a crystal on a chain over a map, with Phoebe standing behind her, watching over her shoulder. Paige knocked lightly on the doorframe, and both women looked over at her.

"Sorry to just drop by unannounced," Paige started, but Phoebe crossed the space between them to throw an arm around her shoulders.

"No, no, you're welcome any time," she said, brightly, a smile on her face. "Our _casa es su casa_, and all that. So, what's up?"

"I was on lunch at work," Paige explained, "and I just thought I'd drop by. I was actually kind of hoping to talk to Leo," she added. "My powers are all wonky, lately, and I was hoping he'd have an explanation."

"He went to meet with another charge," Phoebe told her, "but he should be back, soon – where are you going?" she interrupted herself, when Piper had grabbed her map and crystal and abruptly headed for the door.

"It's a little chatty up here," Piper said, very pointedly not looking at Paige, "so I'm going to go scry for evil in my room."

She stalked out of the attic without even acknowledging Paige's presence, and Paige watched her go, slightly stunned by the complete dismissal by her older sister.

"She hates my guts," she said, lightly, but she didn't really mean it.

She knew that Piper was still grieving for Prue, and she knew all-too-well how those emotions could affect a person. She remembered being a nightmare to Julie and Dave after her parents had died; how she'd closed herself off for weeks after Pax's disappearance. She understood what Piper was going through, and she was more than willing to give her the space that she so clearly desired.

"Piper doesn't hate you," Phoebe insisted, but even she didn't sound convinced by her words. "Leo?" she called out, a moment later, in an abrupt – and telling – change of subject.

"So, what's scrying?" Paige asked, taking the thread that Phoebe had offered her.

"It's kind of a magical LoJack," Phoebe explained. "What's going on with your powers? And, how do you know there's a problem? You've only been a witch for a couple of weeks."

"Not Prue's power," Paige clarified, calling electricity to her fingers and letting it play over the surface of her hand. "This power."

"That's cool," Phoebe said, with a wide-eyed stare, and Paige chuckled.

"I've had this one for the last few years," she went on. "But, lately it's been harder and harder to use. I was hoping Leo would know why. Or maybe I'd find something in this big book," she added, running a hand over the open pages of the huge book that dominated the room. "It's a book of magic, right?"

"Oh, it's so much more than that," Phoebe told her, but the rest of her explanation was cut off by Leo's sudden arrival.

"You called?" the Whitelighter asked, looking at Phoebe, who indicated Paige with a nod.

"Her," she said. "You and Paige talk. I have to go corral Piper."

Then, she ducked out of the attic, leaving Paige and Leo alone in the room. Paige sat down on the window seat, leaning against the cool glass of the window, while Leo took a seat on the couch.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Something's wrong with my powers," Paige told him. "Ever since Prue's funeral, when I took her place in the Charmed Ones. It's harder to call, harder to control – any ideas?"

"I was afraid this might happen," Leo said. "Your Charmed powers are taking over, and as a result, your natural powers are going dormant."

"Excuse me?" Paige asked, incredulously, as she stared at the Whitelighter. "You were afraid that this could happen? And you couldn't think to warn me of that possibility ahead of time?"

"It slipped my mind, I'm sorry," Leo apologized, quickly.

"My powers are going dormant," Paige echoed, slowly. "So, what? I'm going to lose that ability? What about my Whitelighter powers, are they going to go dormant, as well?"

"First question," Leo said, holding up a hand to forestall her panic, "no, you're not going to lose your electrokinesis. It's just that your Charmed powers are temporarily taking over, because in order to be a part of the Power of Three, you need the power of telekinesis. More importantly, you need to get used to the power. And you can't do that if you're constantly relying on the ability to throw lightning around."

"Can't I have both at the same time?" Paige groused. "I mean, I've got some serious firepower, here."

"Second question," Leo said, hiding a smirk behind the palm of his hand, "none of this should affect your Whitelighter abilities. Those are separate from your Charmed powers."

"Great," Paige grumbled. "Prue's powers are taking over my life."

"Maybe," Leo suggested, "the first thing you need to do is learn to stop thinking of them as Prue's powers, and start thinking of them as your own. This is your destiny, now."

"Maybe you're right," Paige said, with a sigh. "Maybe-"

But, the rest of what she was about to say was cut off by a shrill scream coming from downstairs. She and Leo bolted up from their seats to race downstairs, their feet pounding on the stairs. Paige practically tripped over Cole lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs, blood trickling from his eyes, ears, and nose. Leo knelt down beside the other man to check on him while Paige continued into the conservatory.

She found her sisters in the room, facing a trio of enraged female demons. One of the demons hit Phoebe across the face, sending her flying across the room to crash into the couch and disappear over the back. Piper attempted to blow the other ones up, but the demons simply seemed to shrug off the attack, one of them reaching out and wrapping a clawed hand around Piper's throat. Then, the demon started to squeeze until Piper started turning blue.

Paige watched in horror as Piper slumped in the demon's grasp, barely resisting when the demon dragged her closer and blew smoke onto her face. The demon dropped Piper, after that, and Paige waited for Piper to get up and explode the bitch back to Hell, but her older sister wasn't moving. She didn't even look like she was breathing…


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

* * *

"Piper!" Paige cried, and she stretched a hand out toward her sister's fallen form, electricity crackling at her fingertips.

But, she couldn't summon enough energy to blast the demons, and Paige silently cursed herself for already forgetting Leo's words. Her powers were going dormant; she couldn't keep relying on them to protect her.

_'Prue's power it is, then,'_ she thought, but for a moment, she couldn't remember how to use it.

Waving her hand did nothing, as did squinting, and she distinctly remembered Piper and Phoebe telling her that was how Prue had activated her power. Then, she remembered the candle, and how she'd had to call for it before it would move.

_'Well, that's damn inconvenient,'_ she thought, irritably. _'I am going to have to find a way around that.'_

But, for now, she was going to have to work with what she had. Looking quickly around the room, she couldn't see anything to use as a weapon, but she thought she remembered seeing a fireplace poker in the living room.

"Poker!" she called out, feeling a rush of triumph when the desired object orbed into her hand.

She hefted the poker in her hand like a makeshift spear, throwing it at the demons and hitting one in the leg. The demon howled in agony as the poker sank into her thigh, and the trio disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Paige dashed across the room, falling to her knees at Piper's side, her fingers already pressed against her sister's throat. When she couldn't find a pulse, she immediately started compressions on Piper's chest, counting out ten before bending to deliver two breaths.

"Leo!" she yelled, as she started the cycle again. "Leo, get in here!"

The Whitelighter ran into the room, kneeling down beside her, his hands already glowing with a bright light. Paige leaned back on her heels to give Leo room to work, holding her breath, anxiously, while she waited for the healing to take effect.

"Check on Phoebe," Leo suggested, tersely, while he was healing Piper, but when Paige glanced back, Cole was already helping Phoebe to her feet, both of them looking unsteady on their feet.

Paige moved toward the pair, helping Cole get Phoebe seated on the couch. A dark knot was rapidly forming on her temple and her eyes were slightly unfocused. Cole was still bleeding.

"Didn't Leo heal you?" Paige asked.

"Demon," Cole reminded her, ruefully. "Or, half-demon. Leo can only heal my human half."

"And, unfortunately," Leo said, from the other side of the room where he was helping Piper to her feet, "it was Cole's demonic half that was injured."

He crossed the room to where they were standing, healing the bruise on Phoebe's head. Paige watched him, thinking for a moment.

"I'm half Whitelighter, right?" she asked Leo, who nodded. "So, in theory, couldn't that cancel out Cole's demonic half? Can't we heal him that way?"

"Worth a shot," Leo said, with a shrug. "Here, hold my hand, and put your free hand over his wound."

Paige gripped Leo's hand, holding her free hand over the slow trickle of blood from Cole's nose. Leo's hand was next to hers, and both of their hands glowed with a golden energy. Cole's wounds slowly healed, the blood vanishing and leaving his face unmarked.

"Okay, that's cool," Paige decided, as they finished healing Cole.

"It's a part of who you are," Leo reminded her. "I wouldn't be surprised if you manifested all of a Whitelighter's powers, some day."

"I should probably get used to this power, first," Paige replied. "So, what was up with the demons?"

"They're called Furies," Cole supplied.

"We fought them this morning," Phoebe added, shooting a look at Piper that left Paige clueless. "They were probably here in retaliation."

"Hey, they're demons," Piper snapped, sounding like she was continuing an old argument. "We fight demons, or have you forgotten?"

"No, I haven't forgotten," Phoebe replied, testily. "But, the demons come to us, we don't bring the fight to them. We have a system."

"I'd say that Prue getting killed counts as a pretty big glitch in the system," Piper retorted, angrily.

"Okay, what am I missing, here?" Paige asked Cole, softly, leaning over to where he was sitting.

Cole shook his head, but before he could say anything, Paige's cell phone rang, and she dug it out of her pocket, moving away so that she could hear better.

"Hey, Henry," she greeted, and she heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.

"What, are you psychic, now?" he asked, teasingly.

"No, that's Phoebe's power," Paige joked back, smiling. "But, you know, caller ID doesn't hurt."

"Are we still on for lunch?" Henry asked, and Paige glanced down at her watch, grimacing when she realized how late it had gotten. If she left it too much later, she was going to have to orb back to work to avoid being late.

"Rain check," she said, apologetically. "How about dinner?"

"We'll try that new Italian place," Henry suggested. "Pick you up at eight?"

"Eight-thirty," Paige corrected. "I'm pulling a shift at the hospital, tonight."

"It's a date," Henry said, and when Paige started laughing, he huffed, impatiently. "Oh, you know what I mean."

"I'll see you, tonight," Paige said, grinning, and then she hung up the phone, turning around to see everyone watching her. "Something wrong?" she prompted, when they continued to just stare at her.

"Who were you just talking to?" Piper asked, and Paige raised an eyebrow at the cold, almost hostile tone in her sister's voice.

"Excuse me?" Paige asked, incredulously. "No offense, but how is that any of your business?"

"It's our business," Piper said, icily, "when you start talking to people outside this family about our magic."

"What?" Paige demanded in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"No, that's Phoebe's power," Piper parroted her earlier words, an angry tone in her voice. "What were you thinking? How could you just tell some random stranger about us?"

"He's not some random stranger," Paige snapped, defending Henry. "He's my best friend. I trust Henry with my life."

"Well, I hope that Phoebe and I can trust him with ours," Piper shot back, "because you've just exposed us as witches to someone we've never even met."

"One person!" Paige protested, hotly.

"And that one person could expose us to the entire world!" Piper yelled, a nearby glass shattering as her power surged. "Damn it, Paige, how could you be so stupid?"

"Piper," Leo said, quietly, she ignored him in favor of glaring at Paige.

"Would you just relax?" Paige gritted out, forcing herself to stay calm in the face of Piper's rage. "It's not like Henry's going to go running to some tabloid at the first chance he gets."

Piper shook her head in disgust. She wouldn't look at Paige, like she couldn't bear to. "Maybe you'd feel differently about it if you'd just lost a sister," she snapped.

Paige rocked back on her heels at the verbal slap Piper had given her, staring in disbelief at the woman she'd thought was her sister. Hot tears pricked at her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. She took a shuddering breath, hands clenching into fists at her sides as she tried not to yell at Piper. It wouldn't help, and in the mood she was in, Piper probably wouldn't believe her, anyway.

Behind Piper, Phoebe was hovering at her shoulder, an anxious look on her face. Her eyes kept darting between Paige and Piper, like she wasn't sure whose side she was supposed to take. Paige felt her heart clench, painfully, when she realized that it wasn't going to be hers.

"If you need me," she said, struggling to keep her voice even, "I am going to be at work."

"We don't need you," Piper snapped at her back, as she headed for the front door, and Paige angrily blinked back the tears that threatened to spill over.

_'I don't need you, either,'_ she thought, furiously. She made it all the way out to her car before the tears finally fell, and she bent over her steering wheel, shoulders shaking with silent sobs.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: **A little note about Piper's comment: the line is actually canon, from _Trial By Magic_, when Piper finds out that Paige told Glenn about magic. The moment was obviously played for humor, and meant to be lighthearted in the show, but it seemed to me to be an example of the writers not thinking about what they were saying. There was so much potential with that one line, and I happily ran with it.

* * *

Paige didn't even look up at the sound of a knock on the doorframe of the tiny office she shared with the three other social workers employed by the hospital.

"Busy," she said, shortly, her attention focused on the paperwork spread out in front of her on the desk. "And, for the fiftieth time, you will get the Rodriguez file when I'm done with it."

"Who's Rodriguez?" came the confused question, and Paige looked up to see Ava hovering in the doorway, a curious expression on her face.

"Sorry," Paige apologized. "I thought you were Brenda. She's been badgering me all damn day. She's the one who wanted a consult, wanted me to look things over, and now she's rushing me-"

"Breathe," Ava instructed, a small smile on her face as she stepped into the tiny office. "Geez, how can you stand it in here?"

"I can't," Paige grumbled, as she gathered the paperwork back into the file folder and closed it. "But, this is all I get, and I'm only here a couple times a month, so I learn to deal with it. What's up? Did you want something?"

"You've been tense ever since you came back from lunch," Ava told her. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm fine," Paige said, but Ava just crossed her arms over her chest, the look in her eyes telling her that she wasn't buying it.

"Care to try again?" she asked, and Paige sighed. "And, no," Ava went on, a second later, "I'm not going away until I get an honest answer."

"I need less nosy people in my life," Paige groused.

"We're nosy because we care," Ava pointed out.

Paige debated, for a moment, the relative merits of telling Ava a heavily-edited version of what happened versus keeping it bottled up and potentially exploding at dinner, followed by getting the third degree from Henry.

"You got fifteen minutes?" she asked, and Ava nodded.

"I know the perfect place for some privacy," she said, leading the way out of the office.

When Paige stepped out on the roof, there was a small part of her that tensed up in anticipation of an attack, still half-expecting to see Shax waiting for her, even though she knew full well that he was gone. But, sunshine was the only thing that greeted her, and she sighed in relief, feeling some of the tension drain away from her shoulders as she soaked in the heat.

She and Ava went over to the catwalk, sitting down and dangling their legs over the edge. Paige leaned on the railing, resting her chin on her hands and staring out over the city.

"When I was a kid," she started, "I used to always wonder what it would be like to have sisters. I mean, I had my cousin, Jeff, and he was great, for all that he acted like an annoying older brother, but I always wanted a sister to talk to, to share secrets with. I had no idea what I was getting myself into."

"Things rocky with your sisters?" Ava asked, sympathetically, and Paige nodded.

"That's an understatement," she remarked, wryly. "Piper seems utterly determined to ignore my existence, and Phoebe is being overly chipper to make up for it. Leo seems nice enough, but he's Piper's husband and I can't ask him to get between us. Things are tense every time I go over there, and it's like I can't do anything right, according to Piper-"

"Paige," Ava interrupted her, "you've only known your sisters for a couple of weeks, right?"

"Yeah," Paige replied.

"And, it's safe to say that your life has been completely uprooted?" Ava went on, knowingly. When Paige nodded, she continued, "Wouldn't you say that your sisters' lives have been disrupted just as much? I mean, something as big as this is going to take longer than two weeks to get used to, right?"

"Yeah," Paige repeated, quietly. "Maybe you're right."

"Oh, I'm definitely right," the older woman said, with a confidence that made Paige laugh. "This is all new to them," she added. "You've just got to give them some time. And besides, they're family. They're supposed to make your life miserable."

They sat in silence for several minutes, and then Ava cleared her throat, getting Paige's attention.

"So, I saw you, a couple of weeks ago," she started, and Paige snorted out a laugh.

"It's been a long couple of weeks. You're going to have to be a little more specific," she teased, getting an exasperated look from Ava.

"I was going out for a smoke," Ava went on, doggedly, ignoring the pointed look Paige shot her, "and I went to the smoking shelter at the west entrance, and I saw you. I saw you disappear."

It took Paige a moment, but then she closed her eyes with a quiet groan. "Shit," she muttered, under her breath. "Ava, I can explain-"

"But you don't have to," Ava interrupted her, gently. "Not if you don't want to." Paige looked at her in surprise, getting a small smile in response. "If you want to talk, I'm here. And if you don't want to talk – well, I'm still here."

"Thanks," Paige said quietly, touched by Ava's consideration.

"My family is Romani," Ava told her, after a moment. "I grew up on tales of our magic, learned our spells and potions at my mother's hand. After she died, I was angry that magic couldn't save her, angry that she'd died when we were supposed to have all this power. I turned my back on my heritage, insisted that it couldn't be real, that it was all just stories." She broke off, fingering a silver pendant featuring a stylized eye on a cross. "I guess I always knew that they weren't just stories," she added, fondly.

"Witches," Paige replied, after a moment. "My family are witches, stretching all the way back to Salem."

"Funny," Ava teased her, "you don't look like you have warts."

"We do not have warts," Paige said, with an irritated eye roll in Ava's direction.

"Oh, please tell me that you at least have a conical hat," Ava begged. "Or, a broom?"

"I'll hit you with my broom," Paige mock threatened, getting a laugh out of Ava.

They were startled a second later by a shrill ring that cut through the air. Both of them immediately went to the pagers they wore on their belts, but both were quiet, and after a few seconds, Paige realized that it was her cell phone. She was surprised to see Phoebe's number on her screen, and she answered, cautiously.

"Piper's turning into a Fury," Phoebe said, abruptly, before she'd had time to say anything. "I need you back here, I can't do this, alone."

"I'll be right there," Paige promised, hanging up her phone. She shoved her phone back into her pocket, unclipping the pager from her belt and passing it to Ava. "Can you give this to Brenda, tell her I had a family emergency? I have to go, it's urgent."

"Go," Ava urged her, taking the pager from her. As she orbed away, the last thing she heard was Ava's distant, "That is so awesome."


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

Paige orbed into the Manor, materializing to find a foot flying at her face. She managed to dodge so that Phoebe only clipped her in the shoulder, and she silently thanked Henry for his insistence on training with her in self-defense when her reactions kicked in. She hit the ground and rolled, meeting Phoebe's shocked gaze as she got back to her feet.

"Little jumpy, are we?" Paige asked, dusting herself off, and Phoebe blushed.

"A little bit," she admitted.

"Demons don't usually orb," Cole interjected, dryly, from behind them, and Paige turned around to see the half-demon using a damp cloth to wipe away the dried blood from around his nose and eyes.

"Didn't Leo and I already patch you up once, today?" Paige asked, and Cole chuckled, darkly.

"I guess the Furies don't agree with me," he replied. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Piper, on the other hand," Phoebe spoke up, reminding Paige of why she was there, "is not so fine."

"What happened?" Paige asked, as she joined Phoebe at the dining room table, where the Book of Shadows was open on the flat surface.

"After you left," Phoebe told her, "Piper went back to her scrying, and everything seemed to go back to normal. Until I mentioned to Piper that she might have been a little hard on you, with the whole Henry issue. And then she started ranting, again, and then she grew talons, and then she attacked Cole and smoked out of here."

"So, she's turning into a Fury?" Paige clarified, and when Phoebe nodded, she demanded, "But, how is that even possible? I mean, that would be like me turning into a demon."

"Which is also possible," Cole spoke up, and Paige shot him an incredulous look. "Hey, you asked."

"It happened when the Fury breathed the smoke into Piper's face," Phoebe told her. "In human criminals and demons, the smoke burns them alive from the inside. It's how the Furies punish evil-doers. But, in good people, the smoke looks for a portal of unexpressed fury."

"And Piper's been raging for days," Cole added. "She was ripe for conversion."

"So, how do we un-Fury Piper?" Paige asked, as she quickly read the page that the Book was open to.

"We have to close the portal of unexpressed rage," Phoebe told her. "Of course, first we have to find Piper, and she's all but disappeared-"

"What about this spell?" Paige asked, as she stopped her flipping of the pages of the Book. "To Find a Lost Witch," she read out loud, but Phoebe shook her head.

"Piper's not a witch," she reminded Paige. "It won't work."

"Look," Paige pointed out, "if Leo and I can cobble together one-and-a-half Whitelighters to heal half a demon, then there's got to be some way for us to alter this spell to find our sister."

"That's it!" Phoebe said, excitedly, and when Paige looked at her, she added, "We'll use the spell, but we'll substitute sister for witch." She looked so elated that Paige was starting to feel hopeful about the whole thing, but then Phoebe's face fell as she scowled down at the table. "Except that it's never going to work," she muttered. "The spell will never be strong enough, not with evil pulling on Piper."

"So, we add bait," Paige told her.

"Paige, where are we going to find-" Phoebe trailed off, her eyes following Paige's gaze to where she was looking at Cole, and she shook her head, emphatically. "No. Oh, no. We are not using the love of my life as _bait_."

"Oh, yes we are," Cole spoke up. He crossed the room to stand behind Paige's chair, his hands on the back of the seat. "It's perfect."

"It's suicide," Phoebe snapped. "Cole, you've already faced the Furies twice in one day. You might not survive a third encounter. Especially if they actually focus their cries on you."

"If we don't do this," Cole said, quietly, "then Piper will be overcome by evil. You'll never get her back."

Phoebe sucked in a sharp breath, her fingers digging into the edge of the table. Paige reached out, rubbing Phoebe's back in a comforting gesture for a few seconds, and Phoebe shot her a grateful smile.

"We're going to need some blood," she finally told Cole, who nodded.

Paige summoned a knife from the kitchen, handing it to Cole who obligingly pricked his finger. He let a few drops of blood fall onto the scrying crystal that Phoebe held out to him, and Phoebe carefully took the crystal by the chain. She held her free hand out to Paige, and the two of them started chanting the spell while she dangled the crystal in front of them.

After they finished the spell, the dining room was plunged into abrupt silence. Paige looked around the quiet room, and then back to Phoebe.

"Now, what?" she asked.

"Now, we wait," Phoebe told her.

* * *

After Paige had stormed out of the house, Piper had immediately gone back to her scrying. Phoebe had looked like she wanted to protest Piper's treatment of Paige, but one sharp look had quelled any impulse her younger sister might have had. And she'd stubbornly ignored the tiny voice in the back of her mind that pointed out how unfair she'd been to Paige. A bigger part didn't care how unfair she'd been. She had been hurt, and angry, and she'd wanted to stew in those feelings for a while.

Everything had seemed fine for a while, but then Phoebe had found the courage to speak up to her, to confront her about her behavior towards Paige, and a red haze had descended on her. She honestly couldn't remember when she'd let the rage take over, couldn't remember what had led her to go from yelling at Phoebe to attacking Cole, who'd made the mistake of simply walking into the room.

But, here she was with blood on her hands, and a faint memory of slicing into Cole's chest with her elongated nails. And she had no idea what to do, next.

She couldn't go back to the Manor, that much was certain. She knew that she wasn't acting like herself, knew that what she had done was wrong. She still had enough self-control to know that she absolutely didn't want to hurt Phoebe. She was the only family she had left, and she couldn't bear to lose her, like they had Prue.

The thought of her older sister sent a sharp pain lancing through her heart, and she gasped in shock, momentarily unable to breathe. She clenched her hands into fists until her nails bit into her skin, drawing blood, but with the pain came a much-needed clarity.

She couldn't think about _Her_. She had to focus on something else, anything else.

Piper took several deep, ragged breaths, closing her eyes as she tried to clear her mind. As she forced aside all thoughts of Phoebe, and Leo, and Paige, and _Her_, she could hear a faint whispering in the back of her mind. The pull of the distant voices was unmistakable, and she gave in and let the rising power take over. She felt herself become light, and when she opened her eyes again, she was in the Underworld, facing the Furies that had attacked them, earlier.

To say that the Furies were surprised to see her was an understatement. Piper knew that she had one chance to win them over, to avoid getting attacked, again.

"I've been looking for you," she lied, quickly, getting surprised looks from the demons.

"To vanquish us?" one of the Furies, asked, cautiously.

"To join you," Piper replied, but this time it wasn't a lie.

The more she thought about it, the more it felt right. To just give in to the rage rising within her, to punish those who deserved it without fear of repercussions, to finally get the vengeance that she'd been looking for ever since _She_ died.

"I want to join you," she repeated, resolutely. "I understand you, more than you know."

"You're a witch," another Fury spat at her.

"Not anymore," Piper replied, ignoring the dull pain in her chest at the words. "You three have seen to that, haven't you?"

"We can't just leave her alone," the third Fury said, in a placating tone. "We should keep an eye on her, if only to avoid drawing attention to ourselves by the likes of the Source."

"Fine," the first Fury said, and she seemed to be the leader of the group by the way the other two accepted her word as law. "But," she added, warningly, "if I think that you're trying to trick us, _witch_, it will be the last thing you do. I'll not soon forget that you tried to kill us."

"And you returned the favor," Piper retorted. "I'm not looking to vanquish you. I just want to kill as many demons as I can."

"We have that in common," the third Fury said, her voice a low purr. "Come with us," she said, tugging on Piper's sleeve. "We'll ready you for your first hunt."

While the Furies were helping her get ready, Piper again heard a distant whispering in the back of her mind. This one was different from the pull that had brought her to the Furies, a bright sound where the other had been dark. It hurt her ears, made her want to hide until those who called to her gave up looking.

But, under the whispers was another pull, and this one sang of blood, and fear, and death. This one, she wanted to answer.

"I know where evil dwells," she murmured, and the Furies looked at her in curiosity.

They smoked out of the cavern they were in, landing in the foyer of the Manor. Piper stalked through the house with the other Furies behind her, and she found her quarry waiting for her in the dining room. She ignored him in favor of the women flanking him, both of them staring at her in shock.

"Hello, sisters," she said, in a sing-song voice. "I'm home."


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry this chapter is late; life kind of exploded on me, all at once.

* * *

When Piper hit Phoebe, sending her flying across the room to slump in a heap against the wall, Paige knew that they were in trouble.

They'd been outnumbered from the second that Piper and the Furies had smoked into the Manor; Cole had almost instantly been incapacitated by their cries, and she and Phoebe were no match for the demons. And Piper hadn't helped. It looked like the demon inside had completely taken over, and she was joining in the trouncing of her sisters with a gusto that Paige hadn't seen her display, before. She almost seemed like she was enjoying herself.

_'Too bad she had to turn evil to do it,'_ Paige thought, grimly.

"Piper, don't do this," Phoebe begged, as she pushed herself up from the floor. "This isn't you, Piper. You're not evil. You have a good heart."

"I have _nothing_ in my heart," Piper snarled at her, and Paige quietly took back everything she'd thought about Piper enjoying herself.

When she saw one of the Furies heading toward Phoebe, she reacted without thinking. Throwing herself at the demon, she tackled the Fury to the ground before she could reach Phoebe, but she was only able to pin the demon for a few seconds before she was thrown off. She crashed to the floor by the table and scrambled to her feet, hissing as pain shot up her legs.

The knife they'd used earlier was still sitting on the table, and she snatched it up, slashing out at the Fury that was coming at her. The move made the Fury back up a few steps, far enough away for Cole to hit her with an energy ball, incinerating her instantly. Cole slumped back against the doorframe, clearly winded by the effort of the attack.

"Thanks," Paige said, and he nodded, wearily.

Phoebe had finished off another Fury, impaling the demon on the same fireplace poker that Paige had wounded her with, earlier, and that just left one Fury – and Piper. The two of them were stalking slowly towards Cole, like a cat after a wounded mouse, and Paige had the sinking feeling that he didn't have the energy to defend himself. From the panicked look on Phoebe's face, she had reached the same conclusion.

Paige didn't hesitate; she orbed between Cole and his pursuers, brandishing the knife that she still held in her hand. She sliced a long gash in the Fury's arm as the demon reached for Cole, but she wasn't anticipating the Fury's reaction as the demon moved faster than she anticipated, wrapping a taloned hand around her throat.

Paige choked out a gasp, the knife falling from her nerveless fingers. Blood roared in her ears as the demon slowly choked the air out of her lungs, and black spots danced in front of her eyes. Then, suddenly the demon dropped her, and she collapsed to the floor to be dragged backward by Cole. She looked up in time to see the Fury vanquished, and she blinked in surprise at Piper standing behind where the demon had been, the abandoned knife in her hands.

"Piper," Paige started, her voice rasping, painfully, but her older sister shied away from her, her hands clenched into tight fists.

"Stay away from me," she growled.

"Piper, I know you're still in there, somewhere," Paige tried, but she just got a wary, suspicious look in response.

"Piper, look at me." Phoebe, now, and Piper's shoulders hunched over at the way she was slowly being surrounded. Paige froze, indicating to Phoebe to do the same, before Piper decided to take off, again. "Piper, talk to us," Phoebe said, gently.

"I don't want to talk," Piper snarled, softly, something dangerous glinting in her eyes. "Talking hurts. _Everything_ hurts."

Paige exchanged a panicked look with Phoebe. If they couldn't get Piper to open up, they would never get to the root of her pain. They'd never get her back.

_'No,'_ Paige thought, fiercely, gritting her teeth in determination. _'I've already lost Prue; I am not losing another sister.'_

"I know what you're going through," she said, quietly, inching slowly closer to Piper. "Piper, I've been where you are. You're lost, you can't see a way out-"

"Shut. Up." Piper snapped, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Phoebe and I can help you," Paige went on.

"I said shut up!" Piper howled, backhanding Paige hard enough that her head snapped to the side and she staggered from the blow. Piper moved toward Paige, but Phoebe stepped between them.

"Piper, stop," she pleaded. "You're not mad at Paige, I know you're not." Tears shining in her eyes, she added, softly, "It's me. I abandoned you. I went after Cole when I should have been here, with you and Prue. You think that it's my fault that Prue died, and you're right. I should have died. Not her."

Paige grimaced, hearing that. It looked like after they un-Furied Piper, they were going to have to work on Phoebe's rather considerable issues over Prue's death. But, it did give her an idea about what was driving Piper. And, more importantly, what to do about it.

She grabbed Phoebe by the shoulders as Piper went to strike her younger sister. She took a chance, calling for a destination, and she sighed in relief when it worked, Phoebe orbing out of the dining room and into the living room. Then, Paige grabbed Piper's grasping arm, orbing them both out of the Manor. When they reformed in the mausoleum, Piper tore her arm out of Paige's grip, glaring at her as she looked wildly around the room.

"It's not about me, and it's not about Phoebe," Paige said, quietly. "It's about Prue, isn't it? She's who you're really angry at."

Piper just backed away from her, sprinting across the room to the locked doors. She pounded on the doors in frustration when they wouldn't open, tremors shaking her body.

"You're angry at Prue," Paige went on, keeping her voice low. "She left you, and you hate her, and that's okay." Piper was still ignoring her, but Paige refused to give up. "When my parents died," she said, "I hated them for it. I was alone, and I was scared, and I hated them. Piper, it is okay to hate Prue."

Piper turned around, slowly, glaring at Paige. Then, she bolted past Paige to the plaque bearing Prue's name, slamming her hands on the smooth ceramic.

"How dare you!" she screamed, as tears poured down her face. "How dare you leave me! How could you go and die, and leave me here all alone?" She slumped against the wall, sagging limply to the floor. "Please come back," she whimpered, as she curled in a ball on the floor. "I need you, please come back."

Smoke rose from Piper as the Fury completely left her body, and Paige crossed the space between them, sinking down beside Piper to wrap her arms around her sister's shoulders.

"It's okay," she whispered, soothingly, as Piper slumped in her arms, burying her face in Paige's shoulder.

"No, it's not," Piper sobbed, the helpless sound in her voice breaking Paige's heart. "She risked her life every day, and she never thought about what Phoebe and I would do if she was gone." She clung to Paige like Pax used to after a nightmare. "How could she think that I could live without her?"

Paige just hugged Piper closer to her side, combing her fingers through her sister's hair. She shifted to a more comfortable position, ignoring the feel of the cold tiles beneath her. She was prepared to sit with Piper for as long as it took. She wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

The next morning, Piper parked her Jeep in the busy hospital parking lot, grabbing a covered basket from the passenger seat and heading inside the building. She had to stop three times to ask directions for finding Paige, and she was getting frustrated; she'd already spent time going to South Bay Social Services, only to be told that her younger sister was working out of the hospital, that day.

She was also running out of muffins; she kept having to bribe the nurses to tell her where to find Paige. By the time she'd reached the social services office, she was down to one muffin, and she was determined that Paige was getting it, no matter what. It was little enough thanks for what Paige had done for her, yesterday.

She knocked on the open door, but rather than looking up, Paige just huffed an irritated sigh.

"Brenda," she said, sounding like she was fighting for patience, "I will get you that consult when I'm done. You have to give me time to work on it."

"Wow," Piper commented. "I think I'd hate to be Brenda, right about now."

Paige's head snapped up and she stared at Piper in momentary shock. Then, she relaxed and leaned back against her chair, rolling her shoulders with an audible crack that made Piper wince.

"Sorry about that," Paige apologized, as Piper came into the room and sat down in the chair across from Paige's desk. "Brenda and I have been at each other's throats all morning. She has a temper."

"Yeah," Piper joked, wryly, "because you come from such an easy-tempered bunch."

"Hey, I didn't say that I didn't have a temper," Paige replied, and then her eyes lit on the basket in Piper's hand. "Oh, is that food? I'm starving; I haven't had time for lunch."

"It's ten in the morning," Piper said, glancing automatically down at her watch, and Paige grinned.

"I've been here since five-thirty," she told Piper. "I love working shifts at the hospital, but the early start is a killer." Taking the basket from Piper, she pulled the cloth off, her eyes lighting up when she saw the muffin. "It's still warm," she said, taking a bite and moaning quietly in pleasure. "Yum," she mumbled through a full mouth, and Piper chuckled.

"There were more," she said, "but I had to bribe a bunch of people just to find you."

"Yeah, it's like dealing with starving vultures out there," Paige told her. "Home-baked goods are never safe around here."

"I, um, I wanted to say thank you," Piper said, hesitantly. "For yesterday, I mean."

"We're sisters," Paige said, glancing up and giving her a small smile. "You don't ever have to say thank you."

"Yes, I do," Piper corrected her, quietly. "If not for you, I'd still be – well, I'd be in a bad way," she said, checking her words as she remembered that she was in a public place. "You saved me."

"You would have done the same for me," Paige pointed out, reasonably. "Piper, I wanted to apologize. About yesterday, everything with Henry. I'm sorry. I should have talked to you and Phoebe, told you about him, sooner. I shouldn't have sprung everything on you like I did. I wasn't thinking, and I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Piper added, after a moment. "Certain _influences_ notwithstanding, I overreacted. I just – after everything with Prue, the thought of someone new knowing about us scares me." Piper trailed off, feeling tears prick at the corners of her eyes. "We could have prevented all of this," she said, softly, seeing Paige start with surprise. "Prue's death is our fault – _my_ fault."

"Piper," Paige started, a distressed tone in her voice, but Piper was on a roll, and she wasn't about to stop, now. She wasn't sure she could stop.

"Phoebe told me that, before the time reset, we fought Shax and he got away," she said, staring down at the desk, unable to meet Paige's eyes. "He was hurt, and he ran away, but apparently Prue and I decided to go after him, anyway. We chased him out into the street, and he never would have showed up if we hadn't been there."

"You don't know that," Paige protested, but Piper shook her head. She opened her mouth to speak, but Paige cut her off with an upraised hand. "You don't know that," Paige repeated, emphatically. "Maybe he would have appeared there, regardless of you and Prue. Maybe people would have died because of it. Maybe you saved their lives by being there. The point is, you don't know what would have happened. You couldn't have predicted any of this, couldn't have prevented it. This is _not_ your fault."

Piper was taken aback by the intensity in the younger woman's gaze as Paige stared at her. For a moment, she was reminded of Prue in her more stubborn moments, and then Paige sighed, sitting back, and fierce expression on her face eased.

"Prue's death is not your fault," Paige repeated, softer. "If you want to blame someone, blame evil."

"I know," Piper finally said, her shoulders slumping in resignation. "I just – it hurts, you know? It's like there's this hole in my chest, and it's never going to go away-"

She trailed off, helplessly, and Paige reached to take her hand, squeezing gently.

"It'll never be okay that Prue's gone," Paige told her, quietly. "I promise, it will get better."

Piper nodded, wordlessly, swiping at the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. The office fell into silence for a few moments, broken only when Piper gestured to the half-eaten muffin on the desk.

"So, um, muffins," she said, awkwardly. "I bake. It's what I do."

"At least one of us does," Paige told her. "I can't boil water without burning it, or so I've been told."

She shot an irritated look at the doorway over Piper's shoulder, and Piper turned around to see a tall man with dark hair leaning against the doorframe. He grinned at Paige as he came into the room, perching precariously on the edge of the desk.

"Need I remind you of the Cookie Fiasco of Ninety-Nine?" he asked, as he smirked at Paige. Looking at Piper, he added, in a conspiratorial tone, "She smoked out the kitchen so badly that the neighbors called the fire department. And then she got carried out of the house by some guy with more muscles than brains."

"Daniel was a good guy," Paige told him, cutting off any protests the man might have made with a quick motion of her hand. To Piper, she added, "This is Henry."

"So, you're Henry," Piper commented, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

"That's a loaded comment," he remarked. "Dare I ask?"

"Long story," Paige told him. "I'll tell you later."

She shot Piper a look, like she was expecting a protest, but Piper wasn't going to say anything. From the way the pair was interacting, they clearly knew each other well. And she still remembered how Paige had described Henry as her best friend, and how she trusted him with her life. From the easy way they were with each other, Piper was beginning to see that Paige's trust was well-placed. And anyone her sister trusted, Piper wanted to get to know.

"I also came over to ask you if you wanted to come over for dinner, tonight," she told Paige. "Both of you," she added, glancing at Henry. "I think there's a lot we need to talk about."


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: **Sorry this chapter is so late. Real life got a little hectic on me.

* * *

_**Six Months Later**_

Paige watched Darryl escort Caroline out of the Manor, the door shutting softly behind them. She could hear Phoebe and Cole in the kitchen, working on more potions. Piper was sitting with Leo in the living room. She knew that she should join one of them, help Phoebe with the potions, or help Piper with Leo, but she had one more thing to do.

Retreating to the sunroom for privacy, Paige dialed Henry's number on her phone, listening to it ring. She kept expecting him to pick up, but the phone just kept ringing until it switched over to voicemail. For a second, Paige was too surprised to speak, but she quickly found her voice, knowing that she only had a couple of minutes before the phone cut her off.

"Hey, Henry," she started, "it's me. I, um, I wanted to talk to you, wanted to hear your voice, but I guess you're busy. Probably with work, knowing you. So, Piper, Phoebe, and I are – god, there's no easy way to say this. What we're going up against – it's big. And we might not come away from it. And, I couldn't – I couldn't leave you without saying goodbye."

She took a deep, gasping breath, wiping away the tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. She sniffled back the tears, hating the quaver in her voice when she started speaking, again.

"You're my dearest friend, Henry," she went on, her voice only slightly shaky. "You've always been there for me, through the good, the bad, through everything. And I wouldn't have wanted to have anyone else by my side. I am so glad to have had – to still have you in my life. You are one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and I wouldn't trade a single moment of the last seven years for anything. Even our first meeting, where you made me throw up with that stupid broken nose of yours," she added, with a chuckle.

A sound from behind her made her break off, and she covered the mouthpiece of the phone with one hand as she looked up. Phoebe was hovering in the doorway.

"We're almost ready to use the summoning spell," she said, jerking her head in the direction of the attic.

"Okay," Paige said, quietly. "I just – I have to finish this phone call, first. I'll be just a minute."

"Don't be long," Phoebe said, ducking out of the room, and Paige could hear her footsteps headed toward the stairs.

Paige took a moment to try and reorganize her suddenly scattered thoughts, and then she uncovered the phone.

"Sorry about that," she said, quickly. "Sister stuff. So, um, Henry, I just wanted to say-"

She broke off, hesitating. Stating her feelings in the privacy of her own mind was hard enough; actually saying it out loud was damn near impossible. But, she'd never been a coward, before, and she wasn't about to start, now."

"I just wanted to say-" she started, again, "Henry, I lo-"

With a decisive click, her time ran out and her message was abruptly ended. Paige stared at the phone in stunned disbelief, hardly able to believe what had just happened. Pouring her heart out, only to be thwarted by technology.

She was about to dial Henry, again, and leave a second message before her courage deserted her, but she was interrupted by the sound of her name drifting down from the attic.

"Paige, shake the lead out! We've got a Source to vanquish!"

Paige glanced down at her phone, but Piper called out, again, her voice sharp with impatience.

"Maybe it's for the best," she muttered, dropping her phone on the couch and heading up to the attic. She found her sisters gathered around the Book, the solemn expressions on their faces matching her own. "We ready?" she asked, joining them at the lectern.

"This is for Prue," Piper said, softly, determination in her voice, and Paige and Phoebe reached out to clasp her hands.

"For Prue," they echoed, firmly.

* * *

Half an hour later, Paige ran down the stairs with Piper on her heels, the two of them headed for where Leo was lying scarily motionless on the couch. Paige knelt down beside him, her shaking hands hovering over the wound in his stomach.

"I don't-" she started, uneasily, but Piper squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.

"Yes, you do," she said, quietly. "You can do this, Paige. You can find the trigger to your healing power. I know you can."

Paige closed her eyes, thinking back to the times that she and Leo had talked about being Whitelighters, about the powers they shared, about the responsibility she'd inherited from her birth father. She remembered Leo talking about his training, and about how long it had taken for him to feel worthy of the wings he'd been granted.

_"Being a Whitelighter," he'd said, "it's like my whole life was building up to this, to being what I am, today. And when I first started, it was overwhelming."_

_"When did you start feeling like you've got things under control?" she asked, getting a wry grin in return._

_"I'll let you know when it happens," Leo told her. _

Leo had been watching over her for years. He'd stood up to her against the Elders, protected her, even when it had threatened his own life. He'd been family for longer than the six months that she'd known her sisters. And she wasn't about to let him die.

Paige opened her eyes to see her hands glowing with a soft, golden energy. The wound on Leo's stomach was slowly closing over, his eyes fluttering open. Piper was the first thing he saw when he woke up, and Paige felt her breath catch in her chest at the look of absolute love that passed between the two of them. Wordlessly, Leo lifted a hand to brush a stray tear from Piper's cheek, and she caught his hand in tight grasp, pressing a kiss to his palm.

"I'm okay," Leo said, softly, his voice husky, and Piper smiled at him.

"Thanks to the new Whitelighter in the family," Piper told him, a proud grin on her face as she gestured to Paige.

"I couldn't have done it without Piper," Paige replied. "Although," she added, with a stern glance at her older sister, "you could have told me that the trigger was love."

"I'm going to tell you the same thing Leo told me, three years ago," Piper replied, slinging an arm over her shoulders. "You had to find it out for yourself."

"You could at least not gloat about it," Paige complained, and Piper laughed.

"My husband is alive, my sisters are alive, and the Source of All Evil is dead," she reminded Paige. "There's going to be a lot of gloating in the future. And parties, and celebration-"

"Who's celebrating?" Phoebe asked, as she and Cole came down the stairs from the attic.

"We are," Piper said, happily. "P3 in an hour. Drinks – alcoholic and non-" she added, with a glance at Paige, "are on the house."

"You own the place," Phoebe pointed out. "Drinks are always on the house. The Seer is gone, by the way," she added. "She took off after some cryptic comments about us working together, again." She shuddered, dramatically. "Promise me that you'll stop me if my premonitions ever turn me into that."

"Gladly," Paige and Piper chorused, getting a glare from Phoebe in return. A knock on the front door had Paige jumping to her feet. "I will get that, and then I get first dibs on the shower!"

Whoever was at the door was still knocking as she walked into the other room, the sound rapidly turning into a frantic pounding.

"All right, already!" Paige exclaimed, as she pulled the door open, and then she found herself face to face with a panicked-looking Henry.

Henry stared at her for several long seconds, looking like he was seeing a ghost, and then he swept her up into a tight hug. He buried his face in her hair as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, practically lifting her off the ground.

"Don't you ever do that to me, again," he murmured, his voice shaky as he held onto her. "Promise me."

For a second, Paige had no clue what he was talking about, but then she remembered her last-minute phone call. She wrapped her arms around Henry, holding onto him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Henry, I'm sorry, there was just no time-"

"You don't leave a voicemail when you think you're about to die," Henry scolded her, pulling away to look down at her. "Paige, if you'd died, that voicemail would have been the last thing I had of you-"

"I'm sorry," Paige repeated, and Henry sighed, wrapping his arms around her and resting his chin on the top of her head.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked, and Paige nodded.

"We're okay, we're fine," she said, reassuringly. "We got him, Henry. The Source is dead."

"Thank God," Henry said, quietly. "Paige, if I'd lost you-" He trailed off, shaking his head in exasperation. "I can't believe you left a voicemail."

"I meant what I said," Paige told him. "I couldn't go after the Source without saying goodbye to you."

"Well, next time, try to make it in person," Henry replied. "Actually, you know what?" he added, after a moment, "how about we never have another next time?"

"Sounds good to me," Paige said, pulling away to give him a small smile. "Hey, we're going to hit P3 to celebrate. You want to come?"

"Like I'm letting you out of my sight for the rest of the night?" Henry asked, rhetorically. "Hey, that message you left, it cut off before you could say something. What was it?"

"I, um-" Paige stammered, fear filling her at the thought of actually saying the words that she hadn't been able to, earlier. It was so much more daunting in person, than over the phone. "Well, see, I kind of wanted – that is, I was going to say-"

Henry's ringing cell phone cut off the rest of her sentence, and she automatically stepped back to give him privacy as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. She didn't miss the small smile that flashed across Henry's face as he checked the display on his phone before he answered.

"Hey," he greeted his mysterious caller, and Paige was surprised to hear affection in his voice. "Caryn, what's up?"

Oh, yeah. Caryn, the new girlfriend. She and Henry had been dating for the last couple of weeks, and from what Henry had told her, the other woman was sweet, charming, and perfectly lovely. Paige had absolutely no logical reason to hate the woman that she'd never even met. So, of course, in the dark recesses of her mind that Paige would never admit existed, Caryn ranked right up there with most of the demons that she and her sisters vanquished.

"No, I'm busy tonight," Henry was saying, as Paige shamelessly eavesdropped on his half of the conversation. "We could have dinner tomorrow, though. Yeah, I'm already looking forward to it. I'll see you, then. Bye."

Henry hung up the phone, slipping it back into his pocket.

"Sorry," he told her, apologetically. "So, what were you about to say?"

"About what?" Paige asked, faking dumb.

"Your voicemail," Henry reminded her. "What didn't you get to say at the end of the message?"

There was a tiny voice in the back of her mind telling her to tell him the truth. But, she remembered the smile on his face when he'd talked to Caryn. She remembered how happy he'd been the last couple of weeks with the other woman, and by contrast, how panicked when he'd shown up at her door a few minutes ago. And if it was that hard on him when they were just friends, how much harder would it be if there was more between them?

_'I can't do that to him,'_ Paige thought, sadly, her heart breaking at the realization. _'I can't.'_

"Well?" Henry prompted her, when she remained silent for too long. "Don't leave me in suspense. What were you going to say?"

"Nothing," Paige assured him, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. It was nothing."


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note: **To my anonymous readers: if you have concerns about the way I'm writing this story or the direction I'm taking it, please sign up for a free account and send me a private message. Don't just leave complaints in the review without any way for me to contact you. If you send me a PM with your concerns, I will answer you. But, if you leave an anonymous comment, you run the risk of your questions being unanswered. I do care about the concerns of every one of my readers, but there are some things that I cannot, and will not, discuss in a public author's note, because I don't want to spoil certain plots in the future for the rest of my readers.

Thank you, and onto the fic:

* * *

_**Three Months Later **_

_Phoebe burst into her bedroom, making a beeline for the cluttered dresser and rifling anxiously through the detritus on top. She barely glanced up when Cole appeared in the doorway, hovering uncertainly like he was unsure of his welcome. _

_"Have you seen my potions book?" she asked, going back to her rummaging. _

_"I didn't think that you could save Leo with a potion," Cole said, but Phoebe shook her head. _

_"It's not just to save Leo," she told him, "it – it's to save all of us."_

_"Oh, yeah?" Cole remarked, as he came into the bedroom. "How?"_

_"I – I don't know," Phoebe stammered, anxiously. "I just – I can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to – what's that?" she demanded, seeing a small, black box in Cole's hand. _

_"This?" Cole said, glancing down at his hand as if surprised to see the box there. "Oh, it's just something that I've been waiting for the right moment to give you." He flipped open the box, and Phoebe gasped at the sight of the beautiful diamond ring nestled inside. "It's not your Grams'," he commented, "But, hopefully it's not cursed, either."_

_"I don't think now's the right time," Phoebe said, softly, but Cole shook his head. _

_"I think now's the perfect time," he corrected her, gently. Slipping the ring onto her finger, he cradled her hand in his. "This way, no matter what happens, you'll always know that I love you."_

_"It's beautiful," Phoebe murmured, quietly, closing her hand into a fist around the ring. "Now, you have to go," she told Cole, hurriedly, shoving him toward the door, but Cole refused to budge. _

_"I'm staying here with you," he told her, stubbornly, and Phoebe stared at him in disbelief. _

_"Do you want me to watch you die, too?" she demanded, her voice cracking with emotion. She dashed away the tears falling from her eyes, glaring at him._

_"If that's what it takes to save you, yeah," Cole retorted, and Phoebe let out a bitter bark of laughter. _

_"No," she told him, angrily. "I'm supposed to save you, that's why I had that premonition."_

_"You're not meant to stop every premonition, and you know it," Cole reminded her, gently. "Maybe you didn't get that premonition to stop it, but to prepare you for what's to come."_

* * *

_They were standing in the chapel in the mausoleum. Phoebe went to thread a rose through Cole's buttonhole, hissing when she pricked her finger on the thorn, a bright red drop of blood welling up on her thumb. Cole brushed his lips over her thumb, gently. _

_"Do you have the rings?" the priest asked, and Leo pulled the rings out of his breast pocket. _

_The ceremony was short and simple, and she couldn't remember the words. The words weren't important. What was important was that, at the end, she and Cole were happily married. Happily ever after. Forever._

* * *

_As Phoebe placed the last crystal in the circle, she looked up to see an expression of utter betrayal on Cole's face. _

_"I'm sorry, baby," she choked out, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry."_

_She reached back, blindly, to grab her sisters' hands, feeling them hold onto her, tightly. _

_"Prudence, Penelope, Patricia, Melinda," Piper started chanting._

_"Astrid, Helena, Laura, and Grace," Paige continued, picking up the thread of the spell. _

_"I will always love you," Cole whispered, and under the cold fury of the Source's gaze, she could see the anguish and pain emanating from the man she'd married, trapped by the demon within. The look on his face almost broke her; she almost couldn't complete the next line of the spell._

_"Halliwell witches stand strong beside us," she finally managed to choke out, and she thought she could feel a ghostly hand resting comfortingly on her shoulder. _

_"Vanquish this evil," she and her sisters chanted in unison, "from time and space."_

_Cole's mournful eyes never left Phoebe's gaze as he burst into flame. Phoebe never took her eyes off him, squeezing Paige and Piper's hands painfully as she watched him burn. Then, as the flames died down, and they were left alone in the penthouse, her shoulders sagged and her body was wracked with sobs._

* * *

_Phoebe flamed into the Underworld. She found the Seer waiting for her, a predatory gleam in her eyes. _

_"Come to me, child," she purred, and from behind her, Phoebe could hear Paige screaming threats at the demon. "Let all the little children come to me," the Seer continued, her voice low, crawling along Phoebe's skin, "for the kingdom belongs to such as these."_

_She let out a dangerous laugh as she bade Phoebe to kneel in the middle of a candlelit circle. She walked a slow circuit around Phoebe, her fingers trailing lightly along the back of her neck. _

_"Give me strength, and give me might," the Seer intoned, "to steal a child in still of night." _

_A part of Phoebe knew that she should be fighting, for her sake, and for that of her son's, but she just couldn't move. She could still hear Paige screaming, telling her to fight, to take back control, and she tried, she really did. But, the Seer was just too strong, and she was frozen by the mad woman's piercing gaze. _

_"Darkest forces, let it be," the Seer crowed, lifting her arms to the sky as if in supplication to a higher power. "Hear my plea; bring life to me!"_

_Phoebe could feel something being torn away from her, a pain that lanced straight through her heart. She stared in horror at the halo of black light that enveloped the Seer, sinking slowly into her skin. A wave of dizziness swamped her and she swayed, only to find herself being supported by Paige, having been transported into the same cage that held her sister. _

_"My baby," she gasped, reaching out and grabbing the bars of the cage. "My baby!"_

_"He was never yours," the Seer informed her, coldly. "From the moment of conception, this child was mine."_

Phoebe burst upright in bed, breathing heavily. She had to pinch herself to make sure she was actually awake; the fear from her nightmares was still crawling over her skin. She reached out blindly, grabbing Cole's pillow from the side of the bed that was still his, and she hugged the pillow to her chest.

"Cole, I miss you," she cried, as she buried her face in the soft pillow. "I miss you so much."

She didn't know how long she sat there, curled up in her misery before her tears finally dried up, and she fell back into a fitful sleep.

* * *

A week of almost constant nightmares had left Phoebe irritable and snappy. Which would have been fine if things had been normal; her sisters and Leo would have been more than willing to give her the space she so-richly desired.

But, their life was far from normal, right now. There was a witch hunter on the loose, a potentially-dangerous FBI agent who knew their every secret, and, of course, who could forget the Angel of Destiny's offer that was still hanging over their heads? It was so tempting, the thought of giving up their powers, allowing the Angel to just wipe the slate clean and eliminate the demonic threat from their lives.

_'But, it wouldn't really be a clean slate, would it?'_ Phoebe thought, morosely, as she stared out of the attic's picture window. _'Taking magic and demons out of our lives, now, wouldn't erase everything that's happened in the past. It wouldn't bring Prue back, or Cole, or my baby-'_

Phoebe bit back tears at the thought of everything that she'd lost to evil. Hadn't they given up enough; did the universe have to take her child away from her, too?

The sound of footsteps made her look up, hastily wiping tears from her eyes. She saw Paige hovering uncertainly in the doorway, a concerned expression in her dark eyes.

"You okay?" she asked, and Phoebe was about to give her usual answer of fine, but something stopped her. Instead, she wordlessly shook her head, and Paige crossed the space between them to wrap an arm around her shoulders in a hug. "What's wrong?" Paige murmured, quietly.

"It's not fair," Phoebe told her, tears choking her voice. "Why did they have to take my son? He was just a baby, he was innocent – how could the Elders let this happen?" she exploded, angrily, tearing away from Paige to storm across the attic. "Damn it, it's not fair!"

"It never is," Paige said, softly, her voice low and soothing. "Phoebe, what happened to you, to your baby, it's not fair. It'll never be okay that he's gone-"

"I didn't even get to know him," Phoebe cried, her voice cracking on the words.

"I know," Paige said, as she caught Phoebe up in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, Phoebe. God, I'm so sorry."

* * *

Piper and Paige had gone to rescue Selena from the burning pyre, leaving Phoebe to face Jackman alone. She'd lamented, more than once, not having an active power when it came to fights. Piper would have frozen Jackman, or blown his gun up. Paige would have orbed the gun to her, leaving Jackman defenseless. And her?

_'What am I going to do?'_ Phoebe thought, her black humor rearing its head. _'Premonition the man to death?'_

She glared at Jackman across the space that separated them, her eyes never leaving the gun in his hand. She tensed up, getting ready to move, but she wasn't sure if she was going to be fast enough.

Jackman had glanced back to where Piper and Paige where trying to save Selena, and then he turned back to Phoebe with a cruel smirk on his face. "Saving her life just cost you yours," he told her.

She swore that she could hear the hammer fall as he cocked the gun. But, before he could shoot, a brilliant light filled the air between then, and when the light faded, a pair of figures stood in front of her. Phoebe stared at the transparent forms in disbelief, her eyes wide with shock.

"How?" she whispered, and Cole gave her a gentle smile.

"Couldn't very well let you die, now could we?" he asked.

Then, her husband turned cold, furious eyes on Jackman. He reached toward the man, and for a second Phoebe thought that he meant to kill the witch hunter, but Cole simply grabbed for the gun, his hand solidifying long enough to grab the weapon and toss it into the still-burning fire. A second later, Jackman crumpled unconscious to the ground, and Phoebe looked past him to see Selena being supported by her sisters, a short, charred length of wood held firmly in her shaking hands.

Piper and Paige were staring at Cole, quietly, their shock reflected on their faces. After a moment, Piper turned to Phoebe, a calm look on her face.

"We're going to get Selena and Jackman to the car," she said. "Get her to the hospital, and him to Darryl. When you're ready-"

"I'll call Paige or Leo," Phoebe promised, her gaze still locked on Cole's face. "Go, get Selena out of here."

Then, they were alone in the clearing. Cole smiled as he looked at her, love shining in his eyes. He reached for her, and Phoebe closed her eyes for a moment as she felt the light brush of his fingertips across her cheek, a touch that was far too brief.

"How?" she repeated her earlier comment, and her voice broke on the word.

"Magic," Cole answered, with a nonchalant shrug. "We were given one last chance to do something good."

"We?" Phoebe echoed, in confusion, and then she looked at the transparent figure standing beside Cole.

He was a boy of about seven or eight, with dark, messy curls, and bright blue eyes, and a smile that lit up his entire face. Phoebe could feel her breath catch in her throat as she drank in the sight of the child standing before her.

"The soul has no sense of time," Cole said, softly, answering the question that she didn't know how to ask. "This is who he would have been."

Phoebe blinked back a rush of tears as she knelt in front of her son, reaching out to him with a trembling hand. She stopped before her hand could pass through him, skimming through the air over his cheek.

"My baby," she breathed, and the boy gave her another one of those brilliant smiles.

"Don't cry, Mom," he told her, earnestly. "We'll see each other, again. The Elders have promised."

"I miss you," she told him, tears welling up in her eyes. "Both of you," she added, glancing up at Cole.

"We miss you, too," Cole told her, as he put a hand on their son's shoulder. "I love you, Phoebe."

"Love you, Mom," the boy told her, and then they faded away, leaving her alone in the clearing.


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note: **Yes, another time jump. I can promise, though, that they are necessary to move the story forward. I'm skipping only those episodes that wouldn't change in the face of this canon, and I don't want to feature episodes that are basically carbon-copy rewrites of the original. And, while I can't promise that there won't be similar time skips in the future of the series, they won't be this large.

* * *

_**June 5**__**th**__**, 2002**_

"Henry! Henry, over here!"

Henry looked around at the sound of his name, shielding his eyes from the bright sun. He spotted a familiar head of red hair across the pick-up and drop-off area, and he grabbed his suitcase and headed in that direction. Then, he swept Emily up into a hug as he reached her.

"Hey," he greeted, as he let his baby sister go. "What are you doing here? I was going to take the BART back home, since it's so early."

"Caleb woke up at four a.m. and wanted to see his favorite uncle," Emily told him, gesturing to the baby strapped in the car seat in the back of the car.

"That can't be him," Henry protested, as he looked at the one-year-old. "He's too big. He couldn't have grown that fast; I was only gone for two weeks."

"It was two and a half," Emily corrected him, "and, I swear he's been growing like a weed, lately. Every time I blink, he's gone through an entire wardrobe."

"Look at you," Henry crooned, as he opened the back door and reached for the baby. "You've got to stop growing, Caleb. I'm never going to be able to keep up."

He unbuckled the boy from his car seat and cuddled him to his chest. Then, he jerked in surprise at the very distinctive feel of teeth latching onto his earlobe, letting out a very undignified yelp.

"What the hell?"

"Caleb Page!" Emily snapped, as she reached out and took her son from Henry. "Sorry," she apologized, quickly. "He's been in a biting mood, the last couple of days. I don't know what started it."

"Well, I don't think I'm bleeding," Henry told her, reaching up and gingerly touching his ear. "Geez, that kid's got some teeth on him."

"Yeah," Emily agreed, as she placed the wailing child back in his car seat. "Well," she scolded her son, as she buckled him back in, "if you hadn't bitten Uncle Henry, he'd still be holding you." Closing the car door, she added, "You ready to go home?"

"More than ready," Henry told her, as he put his suitcase in the trunk and slid into the passenger seat.

"You know," Emily remarked, as they drove away from the airport, "I'll never understand how Jenna can stand to live in New York. It's so dreary."

"You'd melt if you ever had to leave the California sunshine, wouldn't you?" Henry asked, rhetorically, getting a grin from his younger sister. "Jenna's doing well in school," he added. "She misses everyone, and she can't wait to come home for Christmas."

"Christmas?" Emily echoed. "What happened to Thanksgiving?"

"She and Sheryl are spending Thanksgiving with Sheryl's family," Henry told her, "and then they're coming here for Christmas. What about you?" he asked, after a moment. "Anyone special in your life?"

"Yes," Emily told him, and then she laughed at the scowl on his face. "Hey, you asked. If you didn't want to know-"

"So, what's this guy's name?" Henry asked, grumpily.

"His name is Luke," Emily told him. "We go to school, together. He's nice. I like him."

"And does this Luke," Henry asked, making the name sound like a curse word, "know that you have a very protective older brother who is a cop, and who carries a gun?"

"I think he's more concerned about the very protective older sister who is a Charmed One, and can turn him into a toad," Emily replied. "He's Romani," she added, seeing Henry's confused look. "Part of the clan that Paige's friend, Ava, belongs to. So, he already knows about magic, and he's cool with it."

"What about with Caleb?" Henry asked, still grumbling, and Emily sighed.

"We hang out, and we have a nice time, together," she replied, sounding exasperated with him. "I'm seventeen, Henry; I'm not looking at forever, yet. Luke is a good guy, and he likes Caleb, and Caleb likes

him. Besides," she added, softer, "weren't you there for Paige, at this age?"

"That was different," Henry protested, automatically, and then Emily's words sank in and he looked at her, sharply. "How do you know about that?"

"I have eyes," Emily pointed out, reasonably. "I've seen the pictures on the wall. What happened? Why doesn't Paige ever talk about her?" she asked, quietly, after a moment.

"We lost Pax four years ago," Henry finally told her, and Emily stared at him, gasping in shock.

"Oh, god," she whispered, horrified. "Oh, no wonder Paige never says anything." She glanced in the rearview mirror, looking at Caleb in his car seat. "I don't know if I could survive losing Caleb."

"Sometimes," Henry confided in her, quietly, "I'm surprised that Paige did."

They drove in silence for several minutes, Emily clearly lost in her thoughts. Then, she snuck a look over at Henry.

"You know," she commented, idly, "I'm surprised that you haven't called her by now."

"It's not safe to use a cell phone while you're driving," Henry protested, immediately, not even pretending not to know who she was talking about.

"Yeah," Emily agreed, slowly, "but, see, that's only really a concern if you're driving, and I'm sitting behind the steering wheel."

"I haven't even called Caryn, yet," Henry protested, getting a snort from his younger sister.

"You mean Caryn, who was running around with her ex-boyfriend while she was dating you?" she asked.

Henry just shook his head, not having any kind of response to that comment. "Maybe I want some privacy when I talk to Paige," he finally said.

"Oh," Emily remarked, exaggeratedly drawing the word out. "Privacy, huh?"

"It's not like that," Henry protested, but Emily just laughed at him, the sound filling the small car.

* * *

Paige hadn't thought that she'd let herself get so caught up in the potion that she was working on, up until the point where the ringing telephone startled her badly enough that she dropped too much saltpeter into the saucepan, causing a small explosion that knocked her onto the floor. She groaned in pain as she rubbed the newly-forming knot on the back of her head, contemplated getting up off the floor, and then just orbed the phone into her hand.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hey," came the reply, and she started grinning as soon as she heard Henry's voice.

"Hey, stranger," she greeted him, happily. "How was New York? How's Jenna? When did you get back?"

"Fine, she's good, and this morning," Henry answered, and Paige laughed. "So," he went on, "what's been going on with you guys? Vanquish any interesting demons?"

"I got turned into a mermaid," Paige told him, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"You want to run that by me, again?" Henry asked. "Mermaid? Like, fishy, tail-"

"The whole nine yards," Paige replied. "We were trying to help an actual mermaid, and I wrote this spell to track her down, and it did not work the way I was expecting it to."

"Well, considering that you were going to have to look for said mermaid in the middle of the ocean," Henry pointed out, "how exactly did you expect it to work?"

"You know," Paige complained, "you're just too logical for all this magic stuff."

"I'll bet that's something you never expected to say," Henry teased her. "So, how is unemployed life been treating you? Going stir crazy, yet?"

"Getting laid off was unexpected," Paige told him, "and for the first couple of days, it pretty much sucked. But, I'm starting to think that it might not have been such a bad thing. I wanted to devote more time to magic, and now I get to be a full-time witch."

"Uh huh," Henry agreed, vaguely. "So, stir crazy?" he prompted, and Paige grinned at how well he knew her.

"I've made every potion in the Book," she answered. "Twice." Henry chuckled, knowingly. "Some failed, others failed spectacularly-"

"Blow anything up, yet?" Henry asked, and Paige made a rude noise into the phone.

"Oh, ye of little faith," she told him. "For your information, the only thing I blew up was a blender full of gazpacho."

"It amazes me that someone so good at making potions can be such a lousy cook," Henry told her.

"Hey," Paige said, defensively, "who are you calling a lousy cook?"

"Try that on someone who didn't have to suffer through your unfortunate tomato soup cake," Henry retorted.

"If you're not nice to me, I'm never going to cook for you, again," Paige told him.

"Can I get that in writing?" Henry said, teasingly.

"You're a riot," Paige said, dryly, and then she looked toward the doorway at the sound of voices. "Henry, I've got to go. Sounds like something is up."

"Be careful," Henry said, and Paige nodded, even though she knew that he couldn't see her.

"Always," she promised. "Hey, stop by for dinner tonight, okay? We'll catch up."

"Got it," Henry replied, and then he hung up, and Paige got up from where she was still sitting on the floor to go out into the sunroom. She found Leo and Piper standing there with a woman with curly, gray hair.

"Don't tell me you're interviewing nannies, already," she joked, and then the woman turned around to face her, and Paige recognized her as Piper, Phoebe, and Prue's grandmother. And hers, she supposed, although she hadn't ever really thought of the older woman that way. "Mrs. Halliwell," she said, surprised. "Um, no offense, but aren't you dead?"

"Oh, I'm over that," the older woman said, dismissively, waving a hand. "Paige," she went on, with a smile, "you're even more beautiful that I imagined."

"Um, thanks, I think," Paige said, slowly. She looked at Piper for help, but Piper looked absolutely overjoyed to have her grandmother back, and Paige couldn't blame her.

"You have my mother's eyes," Penny gushed, as she pulled Paige toward her in a hug. "Oh, she was a real looker in her day, too. I'll bet you have a lot of boyfriends."

"Not really a problem I'm having, at the moment, Mrs. Halliwell," Paige confessed.

"Oh, call me Grams, dear," Penny told her, and Paige shot Piper another look, silently pleading with her to do something.

So, she was a little bit grateful for the demon that appeared suddenly in the middle of the living room with an enormous axe in his hands. He swung the axe at Piper and Penny, but Piper pushed her grandmother out of the way, and Paige lunged at the demon. Her flying tackle knocked their attacker off balance, but he retaliated quickly enough, smacking her across the face hard enough to send her flying into the coffee table, where she lay too stunned to move.

She watched Penny throw the demon back with her telekinesis, and then Piper blew him up, the axe clattering noisily to the floor. A few seconds later, Leo came pounding down the stairs, and he rushed over to her when he saw that she wasn't moving, healing the injuries that Paige hadn't even known that she'd sustained until that moment.

"I'm going to hit the Book," she announced, groaning softly as Leo helped her to her feet. "I want to know who just attacked us, and if we can expect any of his little friends."

"No need for the Book," Piper told her, and Paige looked at her in surprise, waiting for an explanation. "I knew him," Piper went on, "and that was no demon."

"Then, what was it?" Leo asked.

"The woodsman from _Snow White_," Piper said, as she picked up her book of fairy tales from the ruins of the coffee table that Paige had demolished with her back.

Paige stared at her sister for a long moment, trying to digest her words. "Are you saying that a fairy tale just came to life and attacked us?"


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

Henry stared at the wall in front of him, his phone falling from nerveless fingers. After a few seconds, he could hear his name being called, faintly, and he scooped up his phone from the floor.

"Henry," Piper was saying, but he cut her off before she could continue.

"Paige is dead," he said, tonelessly, praying desperately that Piper was going to tell him that he was wrong, that she hadn't just given him news that had shattered his world in a heartbeat.

"We think there's a way to fix it, though," Piper said, hastily.

"Fix it?" Henry echoed, incredulously. "Piper, she's dead. You can't fix dead."

"This, we can," Piper told him, an insistent tone in her voice. "Henry, just get over here. We can't do this without you."

She hung up before he could say anything in response. Henry glared down at his silent phone for a moment, and then he headed out to his car. He couldn't remember the drive from his apartment to Paige's house, but he made it in one piece; he supposed he had a guardian angel watching out for him, in that regard. The front door was unlocked, like usual, and he stormed into the house without knocking.

"In here!" Piper called out, having heard the front door open, and Henry followed the sound of her voice to the living room.

He stopped short at the sight of Paige lying inside a glass coffin, her hands folded across her stomach. Her eyes were closed, and there was an almost peaceful expression on her too-still face. But, there was no mistaking the depth of that stillness; he'd seen it far too often on faces in the morgue.

"Oh, god," he whispered, shocked.

"Don't tell me that this is her prince," a scornful voice said, and Henry looked down to see a very short man sneering up at him, disdainfully.

"Watch it, Shorty," he snapped, automatically, and the man bristled.

"Who you calling Shorty?" he retorted, and Piper stepped between the pair of them before things could get ugly.

"Both of you, go back to your corners," she ordered. "You," she said, to the short man, "go back to taking care of my sister. And, you," she added, to Henry, "come with me for a moment."

Piper took Henry by the arm, physically steering him away Paige's motionless body. She moved them through the sunroom where he couldn't see Paige, and he sank down onto the couch, burying his face into his hands.

"She's really dead," he moaned, softly, and Piper put a hand on his shoulder.

"Henry," she started, but he shook his head, helplessly.

"How?" he demanded, hoarsely. "Piper, how did this happen?"

"A poisoned apple," Piper said, succinctly, and Henry stared at her in disbelief.

"Excuse me?" he said, faintly. "Do you want to run that by me, again?"

"We're being attacked by an evil witch," Piper told him. "She's been throwing fairy tales at us; Phoebe, got Cinderella's slippers, I have Red Riding Hood's cloak in the other room, and Paige got struck down by Snow White's poisoned apple."

"Snow White," Henry echoed. "So, that would make that man in there-"

"He and his friends are the descendents of the seven dwarves," Piper replied. "Actually, they like to be called little people – that's not important," she added, hastily, seeing the look on Henry's face. "What is important is that Paige fell prey to the same curse as Snow White, which means that she can be resurrected the same way."

"With a kiss?" Henry asked, incredulously.

"With true love's kiss," Piper corrected him, gently.

"And you thought of me," Henry said, flatly.

"You're Paige's closest friend," Piper told him. "You are, outside of this family – and maybe even within it – the person dearest to her heart."

"But, true love-" Henry protested, but Piper cut him off.

"I've seen you and Paige over the last year," she replied, softly. "There is no doubt in my mind that you love Paige, completely and without reservation. I don't think it matters if that love is romantic, or just a deep friendship. I think the only thing that matters is that you love her."

Henry finally nodded. Paige was the best thing to happen in his life, and he would do anything to save her. Even if it meant taking a chance on a fairy tale.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"Just a kiss," Piper reassured him.

Henry nodded, again, following her back into the living room. He went immediately back to where Paige was still lying in the glass coffin, still unnaturally quiet. His heart ached at the sight.

"We're going to go upstairs," Piper told him, quietly, indicating herself and an older woman with gray hair that Henry hadn't noticed, before. "Try to get to the bottom of this, find this witch and vanquish her. That way-"

She trailed off, but Henry had no trouble filling in the words that she had left unsaid. _"That way, if I was wrong, and you can't bring Paige back, we'll still have something else to try."_ He nodded silently in agreement; he wanted, desperately to believe that it would work, but he just couldn't be sure.

"There's coffee in the kitchen," Piper went on, addressing the dwarves milling around the living room. "You guys drink coffee, don't you?"

"I can't sleep if I have caffeine," one of the dwarves started, but the leader, the one who'd insulted Henry, silenced him by smacking him swiftly upside the back of the head.

"We'll make ourselves scarce," he replied. "Come on, men. Let's go raid the kitchen."

"That's not what I-" Piper started to protest, as the dwarves trooped out of the room, but then she just shook her head in exasperation. "Forget it. Come on, Grams. We've got an evil witch to vanquish."

As they left, Henry turned his attention back to Paige, reaching out and brushing a hand across the glass. The glass shimmered under his hand, disappearing to leave one side completely open, and his hand brushed against her cheek. The feel of her cool skin startled him, and he blinked away the tears that burned his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, wondering if her soul was somewhere nearby, if she could hear him. "Paige, if I could take this from you, I would. In a heartbeat."

There was nothing from Paige, not even a flicker, and he supposed that he'd been fooling himself. She was dead, and according to Piper, nothing less than a kiss would revive her. A fairy tale cure for a fairy tale curse. He could almost hear Paige teasing him.

_"And they lived happily ever after. The end." Henry smiled as he closed the slim book, smiling down at Pax's sleeping form. "Goodnight, my princess," he whispered, bending and brushing a kiss across her forehead. "Sleep well."_

_He crept out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him, and found Paige standing out in the hallway, watching him with an amused expression on her face. _

_"What are you doing?" she asked, and he could hear the affection in her voice. _

_"Bedtime story," Henry said, holding up the book in his hand. _

_"Snow White?" Paige said, dubiously, taking the book from him to glance at the title. "Oh, come on, there has got to be a better story than this one."_

_"What's wrong with Snow White?" Henry asked, as they walked down the hall to the living room. _

_"Snow White is just like all other fairy tales," Paige argued, as she dropped down onto the couch, leaning against Henry as he sat down beside her. "Full of helpless women who need big, strong men to come rescue them."_

_"Wow," Henry deadpanned, looking at her. "You are the least romantic person I have ever met. That's your big secret, isn't it? You hate romance."_

_"I do not hate romance," Paige protested, swatting at him, but Henry just grinned. _

_"You would take potshots at Cupid with his own bow, wouldn't you?" he teased, and Paige rolled her eyes. _

_"I don't hate romance," Paige insisted. "I just don't like fairy tales. The women are only there to look pretty, and wear fancy dresses, and twirl their hair until the heroes come riding on the scene. I don't want to teach Pax that. I want her to learn how to be strong on her own, to stand on her own two feet, to swoop in and be the one doing the rescuing."_

_"You don't think that I wouldn't be there for her in a heartbeat?" Henry asked, and Paige gave him a small smile. _

_"I have no doubt that you will always be my little girl's knight in shining armor," she told him, fondly. "But, I want her to know that she can always save herself."_

_"With you as her mom," Henry reassured her, "how could she not?"_

"She would have been so beautiful," Henry murmured, shaking himself out of the memory. "Paige, I'm so sorry that I couldn't save her."

He just as quickly shook himself out of the melancholy of the old regrets. Four years, and beating himself up wasn't going to do anything to change the past. He hadn't been able to find Pax, to save her from the monsters that had taken her. But, there was a chance that he could save her mother.

"I love you," he whispered, knowing that it was no less than the absolute truth.

Then, he bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to Paige's lips.

For a second nothing happened, and he could feel his heart sinking in his chest. Then, as he watched in amazement, color flooded back into her pale cheeks and her eyes started to slowly open. She blinked up at him, confusion in her gaze, and Henry helped her to sit up, giving her a hand out of the coffin. He stared at her, too overcome for a moment to even speak, but then he blurted out the first words to come to mind.

"Why is your hair red?"

"Hello to you, too," Paige grumbled, and then she looked back at where she'd been lying. "Um, why was I in a coffin?"

"You were dead," Henry said, trying for nonchalant, but he had a feeling that his shaky tone belied his nervousness.

"Dead?" Paige echoed, incredulously.

"I brought you back," Henry told her, and then he burst into relieved, happy laughter. "I brought you back!" he repeated, joyously, as he swept Paige up into a tight hug. "You were dead, and I brought you back. It worked!"

"Thank you," Paige told him, a smile on her face, but the rest of her words were cut off by the sound of a scream coming from upstairs.

Paige grabbed Henry's hand, pulling him with her up the stairs toward the attic. They burst through the door to find a wolf standing in the middle of the attic. The wolf snarled, its teeth bared, and Paige slowly pushed Henry behind her, reaching blindly to her side and coming up with a huge, double-bladed axe.

"Piper was up here," Henry whispered, as he warily watched the wolf. "With a woman she called Grams."

"Damn it," Paige muttered, her eyes darting around the attic, but clearly not seeing them.

"Piper said she had Red Riding Hood's cloak," Henry went on, quickly. "You don't think that thing ate them, do you?"

"And us, if we're not careful," Paige retorted. Raising her voice, and the axe, she demanded of the wolf, "Where's my sister? Where's my grandmother?"

In answer, the wolf growled and leapt at them, and Paige braced the axe to swing. But, before the wolf could reach them, it exploded into a million pieces, and Piper and her grandmother tumbled to the attic floor.

"What the hell?" Henry asked, turning to Paige, who just shrugged as she leaned the axe against the wall.

"Piper, you okay?" she asked, getting an affirmative grunt as her older sister pushed herself to her feet.

"Getting eaten sucks," Piper groused, and Paige grinned.

"Yeah, next time you should try not being dinner," she retorted. "How'd you get out, anyway?"

"She blew him up from the inside!" the third woman said, pride in her voice. "Although, it took you long enough," she added, glancing at Piper, who simply gave the older woman a scornful glance.

"Ah, back off, Grams," Piper retorted. "I just saved your ass."

The older woman chuckled at her granddaughter's words. Then, her eyes lit on Henry, her gaze sharpening. "And, who is this?" she asked, curiously.

"This is Henry," Paige said, wrapping an arm around his. "Henry, this is Penny Halliwell. My grandmother."

"The dead one?" Henry asked, with a raised eyebrow, and Paige elbowed him gently in the stomach. "What, it's a valid question."

"Since you're back among the living," Penny commented, ignoring Henry's remark, "I take it this is your prince? I thought you didn't have a boyfriend."

"I don't," Paige replied, giving Henry a smile. "Henry's special."

Leo chose that moment to orb into the attic, holding a small, orange pumpkin. Without a word, he shoved the pumpkin into Henry's empty hands, sweeping Piper up into a tight hug.

"I could feel you," he was saying, his voice shaky. "I tried to come, but Phoebe-"

"I'm fine," Piper reassured him, gently. "We're all fine," she added, her hand resting protectively on her stomach.

"Not to ruin this tender moment," Paige spoke up, "but, where is Phoebe?"

Leo sheepishly turned and looked at the pumpkin that Henry was still holding, and Paige groaned in disbelief.

"You're kidding me," she said, flatly, and Henry stared dubiously down at the pumpkin in his hands.

"I am not kissing that," he announced. "No offense," he added, hastily, just in case Phoebe-pumpkin could hear him.

"What do we do, now?" Penny asked.

"Same thing we were, before," Piper retorted. "We find the evil witch, and we vanquish her. Although, I don't know how, since scrying was a bust-"

"I think I do," Paige said, slowly. "The wolf was after something."

"How did you notice anything other than the really huge teeth as it was lunging at us?" Henry asked, incredulously.

"Because it wasn't lunging at us," Paige corrected him. "It was aiming for that," she added, pointing at the book of fairy tales open on an old steamer trunk. "Maybe it can get back to fairy tale land, that way?"

"Worth a shot," Leo suggested. "I don't know how you access it, though."

"We can't," Piper pointed. "But, maybe Red Riding Hood can." She picked up the sleek, red cloth draped over the back of the couch. "I knew I was going to have to put this thing on, sooner or later," she said, ruefully.

"I'm not letting you go alone," Paige retorted, immediately.

"Well, this cloak isn't made for two," Piper countered, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"Oh, just put it on," she said. "I'll be able to follow you."

"What about the potion?" Piper said. "The wolf dumped it all in the sink when it was masquerading as Grams."

"Not all of it," Paige said, pulling a vial out of her pocket. "Luckily for you, I saved some before I died. Now, let's get going."

Piper sighed, slinging the cloak around her shoulders and walking over to the book of fairy tales. She put a hand on the pages, and as she started to disappear, Paige grabbed onto the edge of the cloak, trailing along behind her in a cloud of orbs.

The attic was silent after Piper and Paige had left, but they didn't have long to wait. A couple of minutes later, Phoebe-pumpkin in Henry's hands starting shaking and glowing golden, and he hurriedly set her down on the couch, before he dropped her. The pumpkin shook for a few more seconds, and then a dazed-looking Phoebe sat on the couch, staring up at them, bemusedly.

"What's going on, guys?" she asked, and Leo chuckled.

"You were a pumpkin," he informed her, and news that would have had anyone else in shock barely took Phoebe by surprise.

She just groaned out something that sounded like 'again?' before flopping dramatically back on the couch. Then, she bolted upright, something like panic in her eyes. "Paige!" she yelped, as she jumped to her feet. "Leo, she-"

"She's fine," Henry spoke up, giving Phoebe a reassuring smile. "Trust me. She's fine."

Phoebe didn't look convinced until Paige and Piper orbed back into the attic about a minute later. Their voices preceded them into the attic, and it sounded like they were arguing.

"-one thing, the slippers weren't even red!" Paige exclaimed, she and Piper appearing in the middle of the room. "They were silver in the book, the red was only introduced for the movie. For another, _The Wizard of Oz_ isn't even a fairy tale."

"I thought it would be cool, all right?" Piper retorted. "Being able to click my heels and appear wherever I wanted to."

"Not a fairy tale," Paige repeated, emphatically, and then she yelped when Phoebe jumped on her, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug. "Oh, hi. Phoebe, I can't breathe."

"You're alive!" Phoebe crowed, happily, as she squeezed Paige. "Paige, you're alive!"

"Yeah, I've noticed," Paige said, pushing gently at Phoebe to get her to let go.

"Thanks to your prince," Piper said, teasingly, and Paige shot her a glare. "Sorry, sorry," she said, in a placating tone. "I won't mention it, again." To everyone else in the attic, she added, "Come on. We're going downstairs."

"All of us, Grams," Phoebe added, warningly, when the older woman looked like she was going to try and linger in the attic.

"Does she know that he's a mortal?" Penny hissed, sounding scandalized, as her granddaughters bustled her out of the attic.

"What's wrong with being mortal?" Henry asked, plaintively. "Didn't Prue say that your grandmother had been married six times, or something?"

"Four," Paige corrected him. "Engaged six. Um, Henry, about Piper's whole prince comment-"

Henry could feel his heart drop at the hesitant sound of her voice. He scrambled to cover the silence before Paige could say anything.

"Paige, I do love you," he told her, quickly. "You are my dearest, my oldest friend. I will always love you. As a friend."

He hoped that she bought it, that she couldn't hear the quaver in his voice.

"Friends, yeah," Paige said, after a moment, and her voice sounded slightly hoarse. "Forever, right?" she added, with a weak smile.

"Like you're ever getting rid of me?" Henry asked, rhetorically. "Hey," he added, "didn't you promise me dinner? So long as Piper is cooking, I mean?"

"Watch it, you," Paige mocked growled, under her breath. "Or this wicked witch is going to stuff you into her oven."

"You're going to have to catch me, first," Henry told her, and then he sprinted down the stairs with Paige hot on his heels, laughing the whole way.


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's Note: **The next few chapters are pretty rough, guys. We're in for a bumpy ride.

* * *

_**July, 2002**_

_"Mama! Mama, come find me!"_

_Paige whirled around at the sound of her daughter's voice. She couldn't see anything through the thick fog that obscured the space around her. _

_"Pax?" she called out, trying to tamp down the fear that she could feel rising in her chest. "Pax, honey, come on out, now. Come on, sweetheart, come to Mama."_

_She could hear the ghostly sound of her daughter's laughter, but she still couldn't see her. Around her, the fog was getting thicker by the moment, so thick that she couldn't move. _

_"This isn't funny, Pax!" she called out, sharply, her voice shaking slightly. "Pax. Come out, now!"_

_Suddenly, the fog in front of her face parted, and a shadowy, hooded figure stepped through. She couldn't see a face, but she clearly recognized her daughter in the figure's arms. _

_"Give me my baby!" she snapped, furiously, straining against the fog that held her restrained in place. _

_The figure just laughed, a low ugly sound that had a jolt of fear running through her veins. Lifting a hand, the figure slowly pushed the hood away from its face, and Paige gasped as she stared at the Source of All Evil. _

_"You-" she managed to force out, but even as she stared at the demon holding her child, the face blurred, morphing into a confusing parade of images. Balthazar, Henry, Prue, Nick – and then the blurring stopped, and Paige stared at her own face, her own arms wrapped protectively around Pax. _

_"You know who's really to blame for Pax's disappearance, don't you, Paige?" her doppelganger said, tauntingly. "If you'd just been watching her more closely, if you'd been paying more attention-"_

_"No!" Paige cried, reaching futilely for her baby girl. "Please, give me my daughter!"_

_"You don't deserve her," her doppelganger said, a mocking tone in her voice. "You weren't good enough for her."_

_"No!" Paige screamed, and then the fog closed in around her, swallowing her daughter and taking her away again…_

Paige bolted upright, a wordless scream dying on her lips. She panted, hard, as she collapsed back against her pillow, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she tried to stop shaking. Closing her eyes, she tried to go back to sleep, but sleep eluded her, and she spent the rest of the night staring into the dark.

* * *

_**One Month Later**_

Morning arrived shortly, but still far too long for Paige's liking. She stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and then she stopped short at the sight of Prue lounging at the coffee pot.

"Hey, layabout," Prue teased her, sipping from the steaming mug she held in her hands. "I thought you were going to sleep all morning."

"Prue," Paige gasped, getting a lazy smirk from her oldest sister. "What – how-"

"You know," Prue said, conversationally, ignoring Paige's stuttered question, "I have to say, I am honestly surprised that you've lasted as long as you have."

"Excuse me?" Paige demanded, incredulously.

"I've been gone for, what, a year?" Prue went on, nonchalantly. "I didn't think that you were going to last a week. Two weeks, if Piper and Phoebe decided to baby you along. I guess they held your hand more than I expected them to."

She smirked at Paige, who closed her eyes, her heart sinking in her chest.

"You're not real," she whispered, brokenly, her fingers digging into the wood of the doorframe as she fought to keep her balance. "You're not here. You're just in my head."

"Of course I'm here, Paige," Prue said, a mocking tone in her voice. "I practically have to be," she added, with a disdainful snort. "You've been falling down on the job, lately. Someone has to protect my family, and clearly I can't trust you to do it."

"You're not here," Paige repeated, emphatically, not looking at the woman standing in front of her. "You are not real."

"I don't know why I ever thought you could replace me," Prue told her. "It's clear that you're not good enough. You never will be good enough, Paige."

"Shut up," Paige gritted out, her fingers closing convulsively around an empty cup sitting on the counter.

"Piper and Phoebe have just been putting up with you for the last year," Prue went on, the cruel smile on her face indicating that she was enjoying Paige's pain. "They don't like you; hell, they barely even tolerate you. And why would they?"

"I said, shut up," Paige snapped, furiously, and Prue laughed at her.

"You're weak," she sneered, mockingly. "Pathetic. You'll never even be half the witch I was. Everyone knows it; even Mom knew it. Why do you think she dumped you at that church? She didn't want to be saddled with you."

"You're not real!" Paige screamed, hurling the cup and watching as it sailed though Prue's head to shatter on the far wall.

The sound of her yell, and the breaking ceramic, brought someone running, and Paige looked up, wearily, to see Piper watching her with concern in her eyes.

"Paige?" she said, cautiously, "what's going on?"

"There's no one over by the coffee machine, is there?" Paige asked, rather than replying, and Piper sighed.

"Who do you see by the coffee machine?" she asked, warily, and Paige tensed at the careful, 'handling the crazy person' tone that Piper had unconsciously adopted. Not that she could blame her; her entire family had been walking on eggshells around her for the last month. It was starting to get tiring.

"Prue," she sighed, watching as her oldest sister smirked at her, giving her a jaunty wave before disappearing like she'd never existed. Which she hadn't.

"There's no one there," Piper confirmed, although by now, Paige hardly needed it.

When Piper shot her a worried look, Paige returned her solemn gaze with the best smile that she could muster at the moment.

"Happy Monday morning," she said, weakly.

* * *

Piper sighed as she took in Paige's slumped shoulders, the shaking hands as she carefully lifted a mug of herbal tea to her lips. Wordlessly, she sat down at the table beside her baby sister, rubbing slow circles in her back.

"She said that I wasn't good enough," Paige finally whispered, not looking up from swirling pattern of the table top. "That I could never replace her in the Power of Three, that-"

"Stop right there," Piper interrupted her, firmly. "Don't you even for a second believe that. You are our sister, and a Charmed One, and one hell of a kickass witch. And Prue loved you."

"I know," Paige said, softly. Then, softer, she added, "It's just so hard to hang on."

"Paige," Piper said, quietly, and Paige glanced up at her, a surprised look on her face as she took in Piper's serious demeanor. "Paige, you saved us. After Prue died, you brought this family back together. You are the reason that I am still standing here."

Paige stared at her in shock, blinking back tears, and Piper squeezed her hands, gently.

"You are the best of us," she continued, quietly. "Hang onto that. When you've got nothing else, hang onto that."

"Thanks," Paige said, with a shaky smile. "I'm going to go take a shower. Try to clear my head."

Piper watched her go, worriedly. The last month had been more than hard on Paige; it had been practically impossible. And from what she'd seen so far that morning, things were only going to get worse before they got better.

A month ago, Paige had started waking up at night with nightmares that had her screaming herself out of a sound sleep. And instead of getting better, the nightmares had only gotten worse, quickly escalating to waking hallucinations that haunted her everywhere she went.

And that had been more than enough to tell Piper and Phoebe what they were dealing with.

In the back of her mind, Piper had been wondering when they were due to encounter Barbas, again. After all, the Demon of Fear had tried twice, already, to kill them; she very much doubted that he was done with them. But, she hadn't expected the demon to discover Paige, or to focus his torture solely on her.

For the last month, Barbas had been somehow projecting himself out of the pit of Hell that he'd been banished to, using his powers to torture Paige every moment that he could. They didn't know if he was actually trying to drive her insane, or if he was just doing it for his own sick amusement, and Paige's mental fragility was just an added bonus, but there was no doubt that it was working. Paige hadn't left the house in weeks, she wasn't sleeping, and she jumped at every, little sound like she was expecting to be attacked.

It was killing Piper to see her baby sister in such agony, and not be able to do anything about it.

"We need to find a way to vanquish Barbas," she informed Leo, when her husband orbed into the kitchen a few minutes later.

"The Elders are working on it, honey," he told her, soothingly. "They don't like to see Paige suffer any more than we do. But, Barbas is the embodiment of fear; you can't just blow that up."

"Don't think I won't try," Piper growled, under her breath. The ringing of the doorbell cut off anything else she might have said. "Who is coming over this early in the morning?" she grumbled to Leo, and then she pulled open the front door to see Ava standing on the porch. "Oh, hey, Ava. Paige is-"

"No longer taking a shower," Paige spoke up, from behind them, and Piper turned around to see her younger sister descending the stairs, dressed in a loose t-shirt and a pair of workout pants. "The hot water ran out."

"I'm going to kill Phoebe," Piper muttered. "I told her-"

"Phoebe has a big meeting at work," Paige reminded her, and Piper sighed in irritation.

"That is not important," she started to snap.

"Hey," Paige said, cutting her off. "You and Phoebe promised that you weren't going to let this affect your lives."

"Paige, how can we not-" Piper started to argue, but Paige interrupted her, again, with an upraised hand.

"Because I don't want it to affect your lives," she said, sharply. "This Barbas thing is my problem. He's going after me, not either of you, and that means that I am going to handle it. That also means that you are going to take care of your club, and your growing baby, and Phoebe is going to be a hot-water hog and deny us all proper showers."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're in such good spirits about this whole thing," Ava spoke up, before Piper could say anything. "Are you ready?"

"Ready for what?" Piper asked, as she followed Paige and Ava into the sunroom.

"Meditation and yoga," Ava answered, gesturing to the thin, brightly-colored mats that were spread out over the floor. "Want to join us, Piper? It can only be good for you and the baby."

"Sure," Piper decided, taking every opportunity she could to keep an eye on Paige – no matter what she may or may not have promised her baby sister.

Because, no matter what Paige said, there was no way that Piper was going to let her continue to face Barbas, alone.


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

* * *

Meditation and yoga had sounded relaxing, and Piper supposed that the mediation part was. The yoga, however – Piper was frankly amazed at the contortions that Paige was able to twist her body into, and all of it with a peaceful expression on her face.

"I would sprain something if I tried that," Piper hissed to Ava, but clearly not quietly enough, because Paige chuckled, softly.

"Henry is a closet yoga buff," she explained. "He badgered me into coming to classes with him. It's fun."

"Uh huh," Piper said, skeptically, and Paige opened an eye to look at her.

"Weren't you the one who was so hyped up about prenatal yoga?" she asked.

"Yeah," Piper agreed, "up until that class turned out to be 'stand, stretch, and breathe', and a whole bunch of overly-perky moms-to-be chirping about their baby bumps, and their sonograms, and Jasper's first photo!"

She said the last in a shrilly enough tone that both Paige and Ava winced, the latter going so far as to cover her ears. Paige rolled out of the position she'd moved into, tucking her feet underneath her calves as she sat on the mat.

"Would you relax?" she asked Piper, an exasperated tone in her voice.

"Paige, I want you to start meditative breathing," Ava spoke up. "Just relax, breathe slowly-"

"I'm familiar with the routine," Paige said, with a small smile. She closed her eyes, her hands falling into her lap as she started to breathe, and Ava tugged on Piper's arm until she moved out of the sunroom with her.

"What's up?" Piper asked, and Ava quickly gestured for her to be quiet.

"I want you to see something," she said, softly. "Watch Paige."

"Watch Paige for what?" Piper started to ask, but Ava just shushed her, again.

She was staring intently at Paige, muttering something softly under her breath that sounded like a spell. For a second, nothing seemed to be happening, and then Piper's eyes widened in shock as a thick, black cloud appeared over Paige's head, swirling around her like a halo.

"What the hell is that?" she demanded, quietly, and Ava sighed.

"That," she answered, "is our friend, Barbas. Or, at least his soul, if demons even have such a thing."

"Barbas isn't my friend," Piper snapped, under her breath. Ava just shot her a look. "Okay, okay," Piper relented. "What do we do about him? How do we get Barbas out of Paige's head?"

"I don't know if we can," Ava said, honestly.

Piper glared at her. "Then, why the hell would you show me that?" she demanded, in a furious whisper.

"Because," Ava explained, patiently, "when I first started working with Paige, that cloud was a hell of a lot bigger. She's containing him."

"Come again?" Piper asked, fighting for patience.

"Barbas's influence over Paige comes and goes," Ava told her, "every time he projects his consciousness out of the Underworld. But, when it does come, that cloud gets smaller and smaller, each time."

"Maybe, he's not going after Paige as strongly as before," Piper suggested, but Ava shook her head.

"Not if this morning's manifestation of Prue is anything to go by," she replied. "No, I think that Paige is trapping Barbas inside her own mind, keeping more and more of him locked up inside her each time he attacks."

"Why the hell would she do that?" Piper demanded, hoarsely, ready to storm into the room and shake some sense into her baby sister.

"I don't think she's aware of it," Ava hastened to reassure her. "I think it's an unconscious thing, her powers acting out to protect her."

"How could trapping Barbas inside her mind possibly protect Paige?" Piper started to snap, but the rest of her sentence was abruptly cut off when Paige suddenly let out a choking gasp, her eyes wide with terror.

Even as Piper started toward her, Paige had scrambled to her feet and shot backward, her hands held out in front of her as if to ward off an attack. Piper instinctively glanced back to where Paige was looking, just in case the threat was real, but once again, Paige was fighting her inner demons.

"Paige!" Ava called out, sharply, stopping the younger woman in her tracks. "Come on, Paige, remember what we talked about? Where are you, Paige? What are you seeing?"

"My parents," Paige rasped out, quietly. "Burning-"

"They're not," Ava said, her voice implacably calm. "Look around you, Paige. You're still in the sunroom. There's no one else here but me and Piper."

Paige's eyes darted around the room, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her chest was heaving with short, ragged gasps. But, she slowly started to calm down as Ava continued to talk to her, the panic in her eyes slowly receding. Finally, she moved until she hit the couch, sinking down onto the cushions with a tired sigh.

"You know where you are, now?" Ava asked, quietly, getting a small nod in response.

Ava sat down on the couch beside Paige, taking her wrist and feeling for a pulse. "Still too high," she commented. "Paige, you have to keep your heart rate and your blood pressure down."

"Do you want to trade?" Paige snapped, glaring at Ava. "Maybe you'd like having Barbas in your head?" A moment later, she deflated, slumping over in her seat. "Sorry," she said, quietly. "I just-"

"Don't worry about it," Ava told her. "Now, I want you to lie down and focus on your breathing. Slow and steady, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Paige sighed.

"Okay, what are you guys talking about?" Piper spoke up, looking between them. "Ava, why are you so worried about Paige's blood pressure? Paige is completely healthy. Aren't you?" she added, insistently, when Paige remained suspiciously silent.

Ava and Paige exchanged a long, wordless look, and then Paige gave a tiny nod as she lay back down on the couch.

"What?" Piper demanded, impatiently. "What aren't you telling me? What was that nod?"

"Piper," Ava started, slowly, "Piper, I want you to promise me that you're not going to get upset."

"Why – why would I get upset?" Piper echoed, the words forced out through gritted teeth. "I'm not upset. This is me, calm. See how calm I am?"

"She's not calm," Paige muttered, sounding like she was warning Ava.

"I am perfectly calm," Piper reiterated, emphatically. "Now, what is going on?"

"I've been monitoring Paige's vitals for the last month," Ava finally said, "because Barbas's attacks are weakening her heart."

"Weakening how?" Piper asked, her voice suddenly hoarse.

"I'm at an increased risk for a heart attack or a stroke," Paige spoke up, quietly. She opened her eyes, looking absolutely exhausted. "Yay, me."

Piper stared at her youngest sister in disbelief, barely able to speak. She couldn't think of anything to say that didn't involve yelling, and from what she'd just heard, that was the last thing that Paige needed. She stormed away without a word, shaking with suppressed rage. Ava followed her into the kitchen, and Piper whirled on her once she was sure that they were alone.

"Heart attack or stroke?" she hissed, furiously, glaring at the older woman. "Paige could have a _heart attack_?"

"Piper," Ava started, but she was too angry to let the other woman continue.

"Oh, and you decided to keep everything a secret," she ranted. "It's only Paige's heart, Phoebe and I don't need to know a thing!"

"Paige decided not to tell anyone but Leo, because she didn't want to worry anyone," Ava told her. "And regardless of whether or not I agree with that decision, she is my patient."

"We're her family," Piper snapped, but Ava remained unmoved. "Ava-"

Ava sighed, closing her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Leo's been healing Paige as best he can," she replied, "but he's fighting an uphill battle. For every bit of damage that he heals, Barbas's attacks cause even more. And it's starting to have a permanent effect."

"Are you saying," Piper asked, slowly, "that, even after all of this is done, we could still lose Paige? She could still die?"

"Yes," Ava said, softly, and Piper slammed her hand down on the counter. A glimmer of power left her hand, a long crack appearing along the surface of the tile. Ava never once flinched away from her show of temper.

"That's not fair," Piper snapped.

"I know," Ava replied, sadly. "Piper," she went on, after a moment, "I know you're angry, and you have every right to be. Just don't let Paige see it, okay? She can't handle your anger, right now."

Piper just shot Ava a heated glare, storming out of the kitchen and through the house. She grabbed her jacket from the coat rack by the door, resisting the urge to slam the front door behind her. And she made it all the way out to her car before she broke down, sobbing.


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note:** Because I've been getting the question about Pax over and over, I'm going to answer it once and for all, but I can't and won't go into more detail than this, because I don't want to spoil the future of the series. The reason that Pax hasn't been featured more is because this whole series is a rewrite of the fic I originally wrote back in 2005, and in that fic, the existence of Paige's daughter wasn't even discovered until late season six, let alone Paige finding her after she'd been kidnapped. And while these fics are incredibly altered from the original, the basic plot remains the same. Pax's plot, while important, is not immediately relevant to **this** story. I'm sorry if that's a disappointment, but that's simply the way it is.

* * *

Paige woke up from the first peaceful sleep she'd had in a month to see a face hovering over hers. Instinctively, she struck out, feeling soft flesh give underneath her hand with a quiet crack, followed by a louder cry of pain. She bolted upright at the sound of the familiar voice, and she found Leo sprawled on the floor, holding a hand over his nose.

"Nightmare?" he asked, and Paige sheepishly shook her head, grimacing as the movement made her head ache. "Then why did you hit me?" the Whitelighter demanded, irritably.

"You startled me," Paige muttered, defensively, scooting over to give Leo a place to sit as he pushed himself to his feet. "What are you doing?"

"I told Ava I'd keep an eye on you," Leo explained, prodding gently at his nose to see if it was broken. "She had to go back to work. She told me about this morning. Are you okay?"

"No," Paige answered, honestly, "but I'm getting used to it."

"You shouldn't have to get used to this," Leo said, sounding frustrated.

"What did the Elders say?" Paige asked, grabbing one of the pillows and hugging it to her chest. She winced as another stab of pain shot through her head, rubbing gingerly at her temples.

"They still don't know how to get rid of Barbas," he told her. "He's still in Hell; there's no physical body to banish, like before. And they can't shield you from astral projection, or all of this would be solved."

"So, what do they suggest?" Paige asked, not feeling very encouraged by the bleak look on Leo's face. When Leo just shook his head, she sighed. "The Elders don't know anything," she muttered. "What a shocker."

When she rubbed her head, again, Leo stared at her, concern clear on his face. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"I don't know," Paige admitted, letting her hands fall into her lap as she slumped against the back of the couch. "My head hurts, but, it's weird. It doesn't feel like my pain. Does that make any kind of sense?" she demanded.

"It does, actually," Leo told her. "It sounds like you're sensing your first charge."

Paige stared at him in disbelief. "Charge?" she echoed, incredulously. "What, I don't have enough going on right now? The Elders decided that a mentally unstable Whitelighter is just what some poor Innocent needs?"

"You're not mentally unstable," Leo replied, immediately. "And, the Elders didn't assign you a charge; I would have been informed, first, to have time to prepare you."

"Then, how?" Paige asked.

"Sometimes," Leo answered, "the connection between Whitelighter and charge happens automatically. Most likely, someone who is destined to be your charge is in trouble, now."

"And how am I supposed to help whoever this is?" Paige asked, plaintively.

"With my help," Leo said, encouragingly. "You can do it, Paige. I believe in you."

"Is that, like, your secret weapon, or something?" Paige grumbled, seeing the earnest look on the Whitelighter's face. "The puppy dog eyes?"

"Save that argument for someone who hasn't seen the way you've got Henry wrapped around your little finger," Leo shot back. "That man would walk on fire for you, I hope you know that."

"Believe me," Paige said, quietly, "I know. All right," she sighed, a moment later, "how do I help this mysterious charge? I don't even know how to find him or her."

"Take my hands," Leo said, twisting around on the couch to face her. "Close your eyes, and listen to the sound of my voice."

"Okay," Paige said, quietly, doing as Leo instructed. "Now-"

"Now," Leo told her, "I want you to block everything out. Block out Barbas, block out the fear, block out the anxiety – focus solely on your charge. Focus on what you feel coming from your charge, focus on how they feel."

"Um," Paige muttered, softly, trying to concentrate, "I think – I think my charge is drunk," she said, a moment later.

"Entirely possible," Leo said, calmly, still holding her hands. "Keep concentrating. Can you sense anything else?"

"Sounds," Paige said, and then she opened her eyes, giving Leo a puzzled look. "Is that even possible?"

"Sometimes," Leo replied. "It's rare, but if the connection is strong enough, some Whitelighters can perceive the world through their charge's eyes and ears."

"I hear loud voices," Paige told him, "and, it sounds like a – yeah, that's a sports channel in the background."

"Good ear," Leo praised her. "Do you think that you can orb to your charge?"

"Yeah," Paige said, slowly, "but it's out in public."

"Let me worry about that one," Leo said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Just let me find my shoes," Paige replied, blinking in surprise when they orbed out from under the couch and into her hand. "Okay, that's nice."

"Your powers are growing," Leo said, as she shoved her feet into the sneakers and hastily did up the laces.

"Well, can they grow into silence?" Paige asked, dryly. "Because the whole 'calling my attacks' thing just tips the demons off, and frankly it's annoying."

"Have you tried using your powers non-vocally?" Leo pointed out. "When this is all over," he promised her, "I'll help you work on it."

"Thanks," Paige said, gratefully.

Then, she and Leo orbed out of the Manor. They reemerged in a dirty alleyway, and Paige grimaced when she landed in the middle of a mud puddle.

"How are you still dry?" she asked, and Leo smirked at her from his position two feet to the side. "And, how did no one notice us?" Paige went on, as they walked down the alley. "There aren't a lot of people around, but there are enough that someone should be crying 'witch'."

"Cloaking," Leo told her. "We use it to orb into public places without being noticed. It fades after about thirty seconds, and the people around us think that we've always been here."

"Useful," Paige commented, as she looked around the alley. "Okay, I think this is the place," she added, nodding at a nondescript doorway.

"You're going to want a cover," Leo warned her. When Paige shot him a look, he added, "You have to have some kind of story for why you're approaching a random stranger outside a bar."

"Social worker," Paige reminded him. "Just wish I didn't have to pretend," she sighed.

"Do you miss your job?" Leo asked, curiously.

"Sometimes," Paige admitted. "I miss what could have been, where I could be right now if I hadn't gotten laid off. But, I love magic, and it's been kind of nice to have so much time to devote to it. Plus, this is the first time I've been out of the house in about three weeks, so, being unemployed helps there, too."

"We're going to figure out how to stop Barbas," Leo assured her, reaching out and squeezing her hand, sympathetically.

"I know," Paige replied.

Just then, the door to the bar opened, and a man was roughly shoved out into the alley. He stumbled toward them, falling to the ground and landing at Paige's feet. He coughed, and then Paige jumped backward as the man suddenly puked all over her shoes.

"This is just great," Paige muttered, and then she reached down and wrapped her hands around the man's arm, hauling him to his feet. "Okay, buddy, up you go."

"Who're you?" the man slurred, swaying on his feet. Leo reached out and steadied him from the other side, and the man slumped in their grip, his head still hanging toward the pavement.

"My name is Paige," Paige told him, tightening her grip when it seemed like the man was heading back down, again, "and I'm here to help you."

"Don' need help," the man mumbled. "I'm doing just fine."

"Yeah, I can see that," Paige said, trying for tactful, "but, how about you let my friend and I get you back to your house, huh? Maybe get some food into you, some water-"

"Leave me alone," the man said, looking at her and locking blue eyes on hers. He seemed familiar, but for the life of her, Paige couldn't figure out where she'd seen him.

"Leave you alone so that you can go get drunk, again?" she asked, softly. "Trust me, buddy, whatever you're running from, this is not the answer."

She realized almost immediately that it was the wrong thing to say, the man's eyes flaring with anger as he glared at her.

"You don't know anything about me," he snapped at her, pulling his arms out of her and Leo's grips. "I don't need your damn help."

He stalked over, more or less in a straight line as he set off down the alley, and Paige pursed her lips as she stared after her charge's retreating back.

"You know," she remarked, "if I'd wanted to get yelled at, I could have stayed home and listened to the voices in my head." Seeing an odd look on Leo's face as he stared at where her charge had been, she prompted, "Leo? You have an opinion?"

"Paige," Leo started, after a moment, "your charge-"

"Clearly does not want me around," Paige cut him off, shaking her head.

Then, she froze when she caught sight of a huge rat crawling out from under a nearby Dumpster, quickly joined by another, and then another, and then several others of its friends. They were all converging on her with an almost single-minded intensity, and Paige shuddered.

"Leo," she whispered, "rats." He seemed to get it almost immediately, looking around and then shaking his head. Paige grimaced, closing her eyes to shut out the disturbing images. "Barbas strikes again," she muttered. "Can we go home, now?"

"Yeah," Leo replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close. "Hang onto me, okay? I've got you."


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys rock.

* * *

After driving around for about half an hour, Piper finally felt calm enough to go back to the house. Paige was sound asleep in the conservatory, a peaceful expression on her face, and Piper covered her with a blanket, brushing her hand across her sister's shoulder.

"I'm going to find a way to fix this," she murmured, quietly. "I promise."

Then, she headed for the attic.

An hour later, she barely looked up at the sound of footsteps in the doorway. She sensed someone coming up behind her, but she didn't take her eyes off the demon she had trapped in a crystal cage in the middle of the room.

"Um, Piper?" Phoebe, and her younger sister stopped just behind her, to hover at her shoulder. "What'cha doing?"

"My new friend here knows Barbas," Piper said, nodding at the demon. "Don't you?" she added, warningly, and the demon nodded, frantically.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, his head bobbing, wildly. "Barbas and me, we're in the same part of Hell. Banished, you know."

Phoebe nodded, slowly, taking Piper by the arm and pulling her back a few steps. "You've certainly got him jumpy," she remarked. "Dare I ask why you're torturing demons in the attic?"

"Because Paige is asleep downstairs, and I don't want to stress her out even more than she already is," Piper retorted. When Phoebe simply crossed her arms and looked at her, she sighed. "Okay, fine. I want answers on how to stop Barbas. Who better than another demon?"

Phoebe looked like she had a million protests to that comment, but she swallowed everything. "Did you learn anything?" was all she asked.

"I learned that he's the one who taught Barbas how to astral project," Piper hissed, furiously. "So, he's partly responsible for everything Paige is going through."

"Anything else?" Phoebe asked, and Piper shook her head.

"I've only had him in the cage for about fifteen minutes," she replied.

"Well," Phoebe suggested, as they walked back over to the cage, "two heads are better than one." Turning her attention to the demon, she demanded, "Why is Barbas after our sister?"

"I already asked him that," Piper muttered, under her breath.

"I don't know, all right?" the demon said, at the same time. "He just wanted me to teach him astral projection. He didn't exactly confide in me why he wanted it."

"How do we stop him?" Phoebe pressed, and the demon snorted out a laugh.

"Stop him?" he echoed, incredulously. "You do know who you're dealing with, right? The Demon of Fear, practically invincible-"

"Wait, back up," Piper said, quickly. "_Practically_ invincible?"

"Well," the demon said, hesitantly, "when he astral projects, his soul is up here torturing your sister, which means that his body is in a coma-like state."

"Great," Phoebe said, enthusiastically. When Piper shot her a look, she elaborated, "If Barbas goes into a coma every time he goes to torture Paige, then – I'm sorry, I don't know your name," she added, to the demon.

"Stimple," the demon told her, and Phoebe raised an eyebrow.

"Stimple, really?" she echoed. "Okay, not important," she added, when Piper elbowed her in the side. "What is important is that the next time Barbas goes after Paige, Simple, here, can just shove his body into the fiery pit below."

"Excuse me!" Stimple interrupted her, loudly. "I am not your errand boy, witches. If I do this for you, what are you going to do for me?"

"What do you want?" Piper asked. Phoebe stared at her in amazement, and Piper retorted, in a quiet voice, "Hey, this guy can help us get rid of Barbas once and for all. Paige can have peace for the first time in a month. I think he can name his price."

"I don't want a lot," Stimple interjected, quickly. "I just want out of Hell."

"Can't you get out on your own?" Phoebe asked, cautiously.

"I can astral project out," Stimple answered, "but you," he added, nodding at Piper, "just proved that you can summon me, body and soul, out of that damn pit. I want out of Hell. I help you off Barbas, and you get me out of that pit."

"And have you come after us?" Phoebe asked, a challenging note in her voice. "I don't think so."

"Oh, come on," Stimple snorted. "Look at me. I'm barely a demon. You know who banished me to that pit in the first place? Other demons. I'm not going to come after you. I just want to get out of the pit and get my life back in the Underworld. What remains of it," he added, with a self-depreciating laugh.

Phoebe exchanged a long look with Piper, but Piper already knew what her answer was. She would do anything to get Paige peace, and if freeing some low-level demon did it, then she'd do it, happily.

"Looks like you have a deal," Phoebe said, after a long moment, speaking for them both. "So, the next time Barbas astral projects, you'll shove him into the pit. Then, once we're sure it's done, we'll summon you out and let you go."

"Small problem with that plan," Stimple said, fidgeting uneasily. "See, I'm standing on a rather tiny shelf of rock. Not a whole lot of space to move around. And Barbas is on another shelf. One that I can't reach."

"Then, why did you even bring it up?" Piper exploded, furiously. "If you're useless-"

"Not useless," Stimple said, quickly, a placating tone in his voice. "I can astral project out the next time he goes after your sister, and then one of you can come back with me, land on the rock Barbas is standing on, and shove him in."

"Why can't you just astral project over to Barbas's rock and push him in, yourself?" Phoebe asked, sounding like she was fighting for patience.

"My power isn't based on physical distance," Stimple told them, "it only lets me astral project among different planes. And the pit is on a different plane than this world. That's how demons are prevented from shimmering out."

"We can still make this plan work," Phoebe said, quietly, to Piper. "We just have to change a few things around."

"Fine," Piper gritted out, "but you need to tell us the second that Barbas goes after our sister," she threatened Stimple. "We want to get this over with."


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's Note: **Two chapters, today. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

After Paige and Leo had gotten back to the house, Paige retreated to the living room, collapsing on the couch with exhaustion. She let her eyes fall shut as she dozed, but she was too wired up, too full of adrenaline to even think about falling asleep, again.

She didn't know how long she'd been lying there, staring at the wall, before the sound of someone coming closer pulled her back to wakefulness. Looking over, she cracked a smile at the sight of Henry hovering in the doorway.

"Leo called me," he said, by way of explanation. "I came over after my shift was done."

"Your turn to babysit the crazy person?" Paige asked, wryly, sitting up to give Henry room on the couch.

"You're not crazy," Henry said, "but, yeah, kinda." He winced when Paige whacked him with a throw pillow. "Hey, I brought you chocolate and chick flicks," he added, defensively, putting the first DVD in the machine.

"_Sense and Sensibility_ is not a chick flick," Paige protested, but Henry just shrugged as he dropped down in the seat beside her.

"Chick flick with plot?" he suggested, and Paige rolled her eyes.

Henry grabbed the abandoned throw pillow, resting it across his lap. Paige stretched out on the couch, laying her head on the pillow, and Henry idly combed his fingers through her hair. Paige tried to concentrate on the movie, but in contrast to her earlier restlessness, now she couldn't keep her eyes open. And as she dozed, she dreamed.

She hadn't told Piper and Phoebe, but there were times when she slept that she was aware of Barbas's presence in her mind. She could even communicate with the demon, as disturbing as that sounded. Like now, when instead of the peaceful dreamscape she'd been hoping for, she found the demon prowling around the recesses of her mind.

"You know," Paige remarked, with a sigh, "you're not nearly as scary as some of the things you've been throwing at me. Nice job with Prue, by the way."

"Thank you," Barbas said, with an exaggerated bow.

"And, I'm going to kill you for it," Paige went on, conversationally.

"I'd like to see you try," Barbas challenged her. "Unless you're getting bored of me," he continued, in a speculative tone. "I don't have to keep haunting you; I could always go after someone else. Your new charge, maybe," he suggested. "The old, drunk guy."

"Don't touch him," Paige snapped, angrily, immediately protective of the older man, and Barbas laughed at the look on her face.

"Someone else, then?" he asked, a creepy smile on his face. "Your sisters, maybe? I've never played around with Piper's head; she might be interesting. Or, that cop you're so fond of. I'll be he's fun."

"Stay the hell away from them," she snarled, her hands balling into tight fists at her sides. "Or, I swear to god-"

"_He_ doesn't scare me," Barbas told her, "and neither do you. But, I scare you, don't I?" he went on.

"You piss me off," Paige growled. There was no way that she was going to admit to Barbas that he terrified her. "Why are you even doing this to me?" she demanded.

"Do I have to have a reason?" the demon chuckled. "Can't I just want to have a little fun?"

"You're sick," Paige sneered.

"What do you expect?" Barbas asked, an airy note in his voice. "I'm a demon." When his words failed to produce even a tiny reaction from Paige, Barbas practically pouted. "Maybe I will go elsewhere," he said, "if you're not even going to properly appreciate me-"

Paige glared at the demon, feeling something inside her just snap at his words. She reached out without thinking, and a wave of silvery light left her hand to surround Barbas. The light solidified into a wall, stopping Barbas short as he tried to disappear.

"I am not going to let you hurt my family," she told him, coldly.

"What did you do?" Barbas demanded, and Paige smirked at him, crossing her arms across her chest.

"You wanted in my head?" she reminded him. "Now, you're never leaving."

* * *

Piper and Phoebe came down from the attic, but they'd barely made it into the kitchen before Stimple astral projected about a foot away from where they were standing. Phoebe let out a shriek and levitated up to the ceiling. Piper rolled her eyes, climbed up on a chair, and snagged Phoebe by the ankle to drag her back down to the floor.

"Don't tell me that you've already changed your mind," she snapped, but the demon sighed in irritation.

"I'm here to fulfill my end of our bargain, actually," Stimple informed her, and Piper stared at him, incredulously.

"Now?" she demanded. "He's going after Paige, now?"

"If you want to kill Barbas, now is the time," Stimple said.

"Great," Piper declared. "Phoebe-"

"I left the spell upstairs in the attic," Phoebe said, suddenly, and Piper pushed her toward the door.

"Go get it," she snapped. "I'd like to be able to tell Paige that her hell is over with."

Phoebe bolted for the stairs, her heavy footsteps thudding over their head as she ran to the attic. She was back in about a minute, a ragged-edged piece of paper in her hands.

"Got it," she announced, waving the paper. "Okay, let's-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off by Leo's arrival into the kitchen, a somber look on the Whitelighter's face as he materialized in the middle of the room.

"You're just in time," Piper started, but Leo shook his head, quickly, stopping her.

"We have a problem," he said, quietly.

"Leo, this whole last month has been one, huge nightmare," Piper pointed out. "How could things possibly get worse?"

"The Elders have been monitoring Paige," Leo told them, a grave note in his voice. "Something's changed. Barbas's shadow isn't fading away from her."

"Well," Piper started, hesitantly, "Ava did say that Paige was unconsciously containing him, somehow. Reining him in, kind of."

"Well, I think it's just switched over to conscious containment," Leo replied.

"You think that Paige deliberately trapped Barbas inside her own head?" Phoebe asked, exchanging a horrified look with Piper. "How?"

"Do you remember the shield that our baby manifested last week," Leo asked Piper, "when that demon attacked? The Elders think that it's something similar to that, only instead of keeping things out, she's keeping Barbas in."

"Why?" Piper demanded, when she finally felt like she could speak without yelling. "Why would Paige possibly do this?"

"She's protecting us," Phoebe said, softly. When Piper looked at her, she shrugged. "It only makes sense. For the last month, Barbas has been focusing on Paige. But, if he suddenly decided that he wanted to go after one of us-"

"She's protecting us," Piper echoed, bitterly. "Great. Just great. So, our sister is going through hell, and we just keep dropping the ball!"

She made an aborted gesture with her hands, the slight movement enough to blow out the kitchen window with an explosive crash. Then, Henry came running in from the other room, an angry look on his face.

"Would you keep it down?" he ranted, but then he stopped short as he caught sight of the looks on their faces. "What's wrong? Is it Paige?"

Piper sighed, heavily. "Barbas is trapped inside Paige's head," she told him, and Henry gaped at her, wordlessly.

"How do we get him out?" he finally asked.

They all looked hopefully at Leo, waiting, and the Whitelighter sighed in frustration.

"You're not going to like it," he warned them.

"We're talking about the Demon of Fear, here, Leo," Piper shot back. "I didn't think that the solution was going to involve sunshine and roses. We'll do whatever we have to. Paige will, too."

"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Leo replied, quietly. "See, with Barbas inside Paige's head the way he is, the Elders are worried that he could possess her, take her over. They're worried that he could use her to gain influence over the Power of Three."

"We're all agreed that it's bad, Leo," Phoebe snapped, interrupting him. "Now, how do we stop it?"

"There's only one way that the Elders can see," Leo said, sounding like the words were being ripped from him. "It – it could potentially destroy Barbas for good. At the very least, it would severely cripple him. His power-"

"What is it?" Henry snapped, suddenly, making both Piper and Phoebe jump from the sheer volume of his voice. "Damn it, Leo, how do we get this thing out of her head?"

"We kill her," Leo said, and Piper felt the blood drain from her face. "The only way to stop Barbas," Leo went on, "is to kill his host. Kill Paige."


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note: **There is character death in this chapter.

* * *

Leo's words shocked the occupants of the kitchen into silence. Piper backed up until she hit the counter behind her, her hands covering her mouth. Phoebe let out a strangled gasp, her eyes wide with horror.

And Henry lunged at Leo, swinging wildly at him.

Leo took the first punch on the jaw with a soft grunt, and then he grabbed Henry and pinned his arms to his sides with a surprising strength. Henry struggled against Leo's grip, incoherent sounds being ripped from his throat.

"Damn it, stop," Leo snapped, very close to Henry's ear. "Henry, there isn't another way. There isn't, I've looked."

Henry stopped fighting Leo, slumping wearily against the counter as the Whitelighter let go of his arms. There were tears glinting in his eyes. "After everything we've done," he whispered, "for it to end like this-" He trailed off, shaking his head, helplessly. He looked utterly wrecked.

"Paige is asleep in the other room," Phoebe said, suddenly, and Piper looked over as she picked up a large knife off the kitchen counter, her fingers curling so hard around the handle that they were white. "If we do what Prue did, when Piper was possessed by that alchemist's spirit-"

Leo shook his head, cutting her off. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple," he said, quietly, and Phoebe stared at him in disbelief.

"Simple?" she echoed, incredulously. "You think that this is simple, Leo? I'm talking about going into that room and murdering my sister!"

She broke into hastily-muffled sobs, burying her face in her hands. Piper wrapped her arms around her younger sister, pulling her in close and stroking a hand over her hair.

"It's going to be okay," she tried, but Phoebe just snorted out a cynical laugh.

"None of this is okay," she said, angrily, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. "We have to kill Paige, Piper. Do you understand that?"

"I understand perfectly," Piper said, softly, keeping her own anger in check in the face of her sister's fury. "But, we are not letting this demon have our sister." Turning to Leo, she went on, "How are we supposed to-"

She couldn't finish the rest of her sentence, her voice choking on the words, but Leo knew what she was asking.

"When Barbas attacks his victims," Leo said, quietly, "he establishes an intimate connection with them through their fear. With the way he's already connected to Paige, the Elders think that the most effective way to destroy Barbas is through that same fear."

"We have to scare Paige to death," Piper said, flatly. "How are we supposed to do that," she demanded, "when Barbas has been trying that for the last month, and Paige keeps beating him back?"

"Maybe," Phoebe suggested, hesitantly, "maybe Barbas will-" She swallowed hard, and then tried again. "Maybe Barbas will do our job for us." She stopped for a moment, considering what she'd just said, and then she let out a weak laugh. "I can't believe it," she murmured. "I'm actually rooting for the demon against my own sister."

"Well," an unexpected voice spoke up, "if it's the only way to destroy Barbas-"

They looked over to where Stimple's astral form was still hanging out in the corner of the kitchen, having heard every word of their painful conversation. He held up his hands in a placating gesture when Piper glared at him.

"Which would you rather do?" he pointed out, rather reasonably. "Leave your sister to suffer in Barbas's hands, or end her pain?"

"Why are you helping us?" Phoebe demanded, and the demon gave her a look.

"I want out of that pit," he reminded them. "Helping you get rid of Barbas is my ticket out, or have you forgotten our deal, already?"

"We haven't forgotten our deal," Piper said, icily, "but we're kind of dealing with more important matters, right now."

"Tell you what," Stimple said. "I'm going to go back down there, and I'll tell you if anything changes with Barbas, okay? And when you're ready to finally off him, you know where to find me."

His astral form disappeared from the corner of the kitchen, leaving them alone. Piper let out a gusty sigh as she dropped into a chair across from Henry.

"He's right, you know," she said, into the silence that followed the demon's departure. "If we don't do something, Barbas is just going to keep torturing Paige. And it would kill her if he took her over, used her to hurt us."

"So, we have to kill her, first," Phoebe said, shakily. "No," she corrected herself, "we have to scare her to death. And how are we going to succeed when Barbas has been failing for a month?"

"There's one way," Henry spoke up, softly, startling them with the sound of his voice. He'd been so quiet that they'd almost forgotten that he was there. "Something that Barbas hasn't tried," he went on. "At least, not that Paige has admitted to."

He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, his hands shaking as he pulled a small, slightly-tattered picture out of a clear sleeve.

"You're going to need to be able to create some kind of illusion," he said, his voice hoarse. "Of – of the little girl."

He slowly pushed the picture across the table, and Piper automatically looked down at it, seeing Paige pictured with a little girl with dark hair and bright green eyes. Paige had her arms wrapped around the little girl, both of them beaming widely at the camera.

"Who is this?" she asked, quietly, but Henry just shook his head.

"An illusion," he echoed. "I'll tell you what to say."

"We don't need an illusion," Leo spoke up, drawing Henry's attention to him. "Whitelighters have this ability – we can take on whatever form we want. It's called glamouring."

"You would be-" Henry started, and Leo nodded, before he could finish the sentence.

Bright lights obscured him from view for a moment, and when the light cleared, the little girl stood in the middle of the kitchen. Henry went bone-white as he looked down at the child, biting down on his lip so hard that he drew blood.

"That – that's her," he said, shakily. "Um-"

"I already know what to say," Leo said, in the little girl's clear, high-pitched voice. Henry looked like he wanted to get sick.

So did Piper, as she stared at the scene unfolding in front of her. She was forming some very disturbing impressions of what she was seeing, and she didn't like any of the conclusions that she was coming to.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Phoebe asked, and Henry let out a low, bitter laugh.

"Believe me," he said, a hollow tone in his voice, "this is going to kill Paige. And she's never going to forgive me," he added, softly, more to himself than to the rest of them. "Hell, I don't know if I can forgive myself."

"This has to be done," Leo started, but then he clammed up when Paige wandered into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Sorry," she said, to Henry, "I don't know what's gotten into me, lately-" She broke off, abruptly, when she saw Leo's glamoured form, all the color draining from her face. "Um, do you guys see that?"

"See what?" Piper asked, fighting to keep her voice even. "There's nothing there, Paige."

"Barbas, again," Paige whispered, very deliberately tearing her gaze away from the little girl.

"Don't worry," Phoebe spoke up, quietly, "this will all be over, soon."

"Yeah," Paige agreed, softly. She moved past Leo, very carefully not touching him, and headed straight for the coffeepot. "We're going to find a way to beat this son of a bitch."

She sounded determined, and strong, and any other time, Piper would have been proud of her sister. Was still proud of her, as a matter of fact, but now that strength was working against them. She was about to say something, although she had no idea what, but Leo beat her to the punch.

"Mommy," he said, in that little girl's voice, and Piper shuddered. At the coffeepot, Paige's shoulders stiffened, her hands tightening on the mug she held. "Mommy, why didn't you come for me?"

"You're not real," Paige whispered, still not looking behind her. "You're not here. I'm just imagining you."

"I needed you, Mommy," Leo went on, relentlessly, ignoring Paige's wild flinch. "Where were you?"

"You really don't see anything?" Paige asked Henry, instead, turning pleading eyes on him.

"There's no one in the kitchen but us," he said, his own voice hoarse. "What do you see?" he pressed, after a moment.

"No – nothing," Paige stammered, her clenched fists belying her anxiety. "There's nothing there. It's just Barbas. I can handle this."

Piper shot Henry a despairing look. She'd known that what they were going to do was hard, but she hadn't known how hard. She didn't know what to do. After a long moment, Henry gave her a tiny nod, silently telling her that he would handle it.

"Maybe it's not just Barbas," he suggested, and Paige whipped her head around to stare at him in horror.

"What are you saying?" she demanded, quietly, and Henry closed his eyes, briefly, pain written on every line of his face.

"I'm saying," he told her, "maybe it really is your fault. Have you ever thought about that?"

"No," Paige snapped, her voice breaking. "Not you, too."

"You're her mother, Paige," Henry went on. "Where were you? Why weren't you watching her?"

"I looked away for a second," Paige said, pleadingly. "Just a second!"

The anguish in her voice was breaking Piper's heart. She had to physically restrain herself – and Phoebe – from going to Paige's side and comforting her.

"You never should have taken your eyes off her," Henry pushed, and Paige suddenly flung the cup in her hand at his head. Henry dodged to the side, the cup smashing into a million pieces on the wall behind him.

"Shut up!" she screamed at him. "You don't – where's Henry?" she demanded, furiously. "What did you do with him?"

"I _am_ Henry," Henry told her, and Paige slammed her hand down on the table.

"You're not," she gritted out, "because Henry would never say these things. He would never-"

She broke off, stumbling out of the kitchen to get away from them. It looked like she'd forgotten that her sisters were even standing there. They followed her out into the living room, where she was leaning on the back of the couch, breathing hard. She had a hand pressed to her chest, like she was trying to rub away the pain.

"You're not real," she said, not looking up when Henry stopped, nearby. "Neither of you are real, you're in my head-"

Leo reached out and grabbed Paige's hand, making her jump. With a wordless cry, she tore her hand out of his and shoved him away, wrapping her arms around her chest as she slowly backed away. Her eyes were wide with fear as she stared down at Leo's glamoured form.

"I called for you, Mommy," Leo went on, ruthlessly. "Why didn't you hear me?"

"You didn't!" Paige cried, her voice breaking. "I would have heard you! I would have-"

She broke off with a choked gasp, hand flying to her chest. She stumbled, reaching blindly for something to hold onto, and crashed to the ground when she couldn't find anything. Her chest heaved, wildly, as she struggled to breathe, and that was evidently Henry's breaking point.

He bolted to Paige's side, falling to his knees as he pulled her into his arms. "You're okay, Paige," he crooned, shakily. "You're gonna be okay."

"Henry?" Paige gasped, staring up at him in confusion. "Henry, I thought-"

"Shh," he murmured, quietly. "It's over, now. I promise. It's over, now."

"Where's Leo?" Paige asked, sounding like the words took every last bit of her strength to force out.

"He's coming," Henry lied, tracing a trembling hand over her cheek. "He's coming. Paige, I'm so sorry. We had to, there was no other choice. I'm so sorry."

"I know," Paige whispered, her eyes falling shut. "It's okay, I understand. Where's Leo?" she repeated, a second later, sounding confused. Her words were getting fainter and fainter as she tried to force air into her lungs.

"He's on his way," Henry told her. "Paige-"

"Henry, I-" Paige started, but then she gasped, her body convulsing in his arms. A horrible, rattling sound was ripped from her chest, and then she collapsed and went still.

At the same time, a dark cloud started to slowly rise from her body, pulling away sluggishly to hover in mid air. The cloud started to sink into the floor, and Piper turned at the sound of chanting to see Phoebe just finishing the astral projection spell. She steadied Phoebe as she swayed, getting her down onto the floor in a lying position, and then she turned back around to see how Paige was doing.

Henry had her stretched out on the floor, doing compressions on her chest in a steady, repetitive manner. There were tears coursing down his cheeks as he worked.

"You need to get her heart beating before I can heal her," Leo told him, in a low voice. He'd shed the glamour and was back to his usual self, and Piper was glad that he no longer looked like her baby sister's dead daughter. She had a feeling that she wasn't the only one.

Henry nodded, jerkily, still working to revive Paige.

"Come on," he begged, entreatingly. "Paige, come on. Don't you die like this. Don't you give up. Come on!"

Paige stayed still, her eyes closed even as Leo bent and expelled two, slow breaths into her lungs. Piper clenched her hands into fists, nails biting painfully into her skin as she watched, praying.

"Come on," Henry repeated, tearfully, begging Paige's too-still form. "Paige, please. I love you!"

A few seconds later, Paige jerked under his hands, and Henry pressed shaking fingers to the side of her throat. He nodded encouragingly at Leo, even as the Whitelighter held his hands over Paige's chest, a golden light emanating from his palms. Piper waited, holding her breath with anticipation, and she almost cried when Leo let his hands fall – and Paige's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Henry?" she whispered, and then her eyes went wide as she remembered everything that had happened.

But, before she could start panicking, Leo put a hand on her forehead and murmured something under his breath. Paige's eyes fell shut, again, and Henry pulled her protectively against his chest.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

"She's just asleep," Leo said, reassuringly. "She shouldn't have to remember what happened here."

"None of you should," a new voice spoke up, and Piper turned around to see a golden-robed Elder watching them from the doorway. "And I have the power to make it happen, if you should wish."

Piper shot Leo a look, and he nodded, encouragingly. "This is Sandra," he introduced the Elder. "She's one of the good guys."

Sandra, to Piper's surprise, didn't contradict Leo's indictment of her fellow Elders. Instead, she looked around the room, her gaze falling on everyone in the room, in turn. When she looked down at Paige, there was something indescribably sad on her face.

"I am sorry that you had to go through all of this," she murmured, under her breath, as she knelt down next to Paige and brushed a hand across her forehead. "I'm sorry that all of you had to go through this," she went on, standing back up. "The least I can do is try to make it right."

"How?" Piper asked, suspiciously, getting a small smile from the Elder, in return.

"I have the power to take your pain away," she answered. "The power to make you forget what happened, tonight."

"You would take our memories away?" Henry asked, and his voice still had that scratchy quality that made it sound like he'd been screaming.

Piper had the feeling that he was just barely keeping himself quiet. He and Paige had been friends for a long time. Paige had said, once, that Henry had been there through her best and her worst; Piper was beginning to think that they'd just seen the worst. And in order to save her life, Henry had broken a long-held trust with Paige, and it was killing him.

_'If anyone needs to forget,'_ she thought, _'it's Henry.'_

"Yes," Sandra said, bluntly, in answer to Henry's question. "I would take your memories away. Take your pain away," she emphasized.

Henry's shoulders slumped as he stared down at Paige's still features, his arms tightening around her.

"Do it," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I can't – I can't live with myself, with what I've done. I can't-"

Sandra reached out, placing her hand briefly on the side of his head. Henry's eyes went unfocused and he slumped over, and Leo caught him before he fell to the floor. Henry was unconscious in a moment, and Sandra waved a hand, levitating him and Paige onto the couch. Piper flicked the blanket down off the back of the couch to cover them, brushing her hand over Paige's hair as she tried to comfort herself that her baby sister was still with them.

"Mine, too," she said, as she turned her attention back to Sandra. "What I learned about Paige, about her daughter – Paige has been keeping that a secret for a long time, and she shouldn't have to have it ripped out in the open like this. If she tells us, it needs to be on her terms."

"I agree," Phoebe said, softly, and Piper whirled around to see her sister sitting up, groggily. She pushed herself to her feet, looking down at Paige. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Leo said, reassuringly. "Did you get Barbas?"

"He's in the pit," Phoebe said, a satisfied note in her voice. "And so is Stimple," she added, to Piper's surprise. "I guess it didn't occur to him that we could astral project, too, and he was expecting me to be physically down in Hell, because he tried to send me into the pit after Barbas."

"I thought he couldn't-" Piper started, but Phoebe shook her head, cutting her off.

"He was lying about how his astral projection worked," she informed them. "I guess after you summoned him, and he realized that he wasn't going to die, he decided to use us to his advantage. And then off at least one of us, so that he wouldn't have to worry about the Charmed Ones once he was out of the pit."

"I can't say I'm sad about having one less demon in the world," Piper remarked. "So, you're in agreement about our memories?"

"Yeah," Phoebe confirmed. "You're right, this should be on Paige's terms, when she feels comfortable telling us. No matter how long it takes."

"Do it," Piper told Sandra, who nodded. Piper braced herself for the Elder's touch, and then the world went white behind her eyes…


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note:** Second to last chapter, and I'm giving our favorite characters a bit of a break after the turmoil I put them through in the last chapter.

* * *

Paige woke up the next morning to the feeling of the world moving underneath her. She moved without thinking about it, and then she was falling for about a second until something wrapped around her waist, stopping her.

"Careful," a deep, familiar voice rasped in her ear, and Henry's arms tightened around her when she shifted to a more comfortable position lying on his chest. Then, she completely woke up, and it occurred to her what she was doing.

"You want to let me go?" she suggested to Henry.

"Nu-uh," came the mumbled answer.

"Are you even awake?" she tried, getting the same grunt in response. "Henry," she protested, albeit not very strongly, "we can't lie here all day."

"Sure we can," Henry muttered, stubbornly. "We've been through hell for the past month. Especially you. And I think that entitles all of us to a lazy day."

"Maybe you're right," Paige started, but then the rest of her comment was cut off by a wolf whistle from the doorway. Paige buried her face in Henry's shoulder, cheeks burning with heat. Henry started laughing, his whole body shaking with tremors.

"Which sister do I have to kill?" Paige groaned.

"Guess," Henry said, dryly. He finally let go of Paige, and she sat up, brushing her flyaway hair out of her face. "How are you feeling?" he asked, a moment later, and Paige took a moment to think about her answer.

"Good," she finally answered, and, for the first time in a while, she actually meant it. "I feel like myself, again."

"How'd you sleep?" Henry pressed.

"You mean, after using you as a pillow?" Paige teased him. "I think I actually got a full-night's sleep, and I didn't dream, once."

"You two cannot possibly still be asleep in there!" Piper hollered, suddenly, from the kitchen, and Paige shook her head in exasperation.

"They're probably not sleeping," came Phoebe's response, and Henry started laughing, again.

"You're both dead!" Paige yelled back, and her words were greeted by the sound of her sisters' uproarious laughter.

"So much for that lazy day," Henry grumbled, pushing himself up off the couch. He held a hand out to Paige, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her from behind as they walked into the kitchen. Paige playfully elbowed him in the ribs, but didn't push him off. She was comfortable, being with Henry like this.

"Awww!" Piper and Phoebe chorused, as they walked into the kitchen, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"Oh, shut up," she muttered, good-naturedly. "So, did you guys sleep well?"

"Like a baby," Piper said, happily. "Well, as much as I could with the actual baby kicking me in the bladder every five minutes," she added, ruefully.

"I can't believe he's really gone," Phoebe said, wonderingly. "We actually did it. We vanquished Barbas."

"And not a moment too soon," Paige replied, as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "If I'd had to deal with Barbas for one more day, I think I would have lost my mind."

"We never would have let that happen," Piper told her.

"I wish we could remember how we did it, though," Phoebe commented. "I mean, don't you think it's weird that we vanquished Barbas, and none of us can remember what happened?"

"Leo said not to worry about it, remember?" Piper prompted, making Paige wonder how much she'd missed while she'd been asleep. "Apparently the Elders had something to do with it," she told Paige, "and they said that it's better that we don't remember what happened."

"And you're willing to just accept that?" Phoebe asked, incredulously. "From the Elders, of all people?"

"Maybe we should," Paige spoke up, as she sipped her coffee. "Barbas is gone," she added, "and, honestly, I'm not really concerned how we did it. I'm just glad that it's over."

Piper and Phoebe exchanged a look, and then they both nodded, after a moment. "Okay," Piper agreed. "If you want to drop it, we will."

"Normally, I'd yell at them for humoring me," Paige confided to Henry, in a stage whisper, "but, now it's working in my favor."

"Just roll with it," Henry agreed, from where he was leaning next to her against the counter. "Hey, you okay?" he prompted, when Paige grimaced a moment later.

"My head," she told him, and then she stopped and thought about it. "Well, not my head, it's probably my charge's head-"

"Do you have any idea what she's rambling about?" Phoebe asked Piper, who shrugged.

"I have a charge, now," Paige informed her sisters, but the rest of her sentence was cut off by a spike of pain running through her head. "I'll explain later," she promised, hastily. "Be right back."

She started to orb out, hoping for a secluded area, since she didn't know the cloaking trick that Leo had shown her, yesterday, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she materialized in the middle of an empty alleyway. The same alley where she'd found her charge, before, and she had a sinking suspicion where she was going to find him now.

The sound of heaving from behind her had her turning around, but instead of her charge, like she was expecting to see, she found Henry bent double a few feet away, his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Are you okay?" she demanded. "What are you doing here – how did you even get here?"

"I latched onto your arm as you were leaving," he told her, with a piteous groan that made Paige feel sorry for him even as she wanted to throttle him. "I think I left my stomach back in the Manor."

"You're lucky that's all you left behind," Paige scolded him. "Henry, what were you thinking with a stunt like that?"

"I was thinking of not letting you out of my sight, today," Henry told her. "You're stuck with me for a while."

"You're lucky you're cute," Paige told him, with an exasperated eye roll. "Come on, walking will help settle your stomach."

"Now I know why I've never gone orbing with you, before," Henry muttered, as they started toward the bar. "I think I'm going to get sick."

"You're not going to get sick," Paige assured him, and then she took a step back when the door to the bar slammed open, and her charge was shoved out into the sun. "Him, on the other hand-"

She reached out to catch the stumbling man, steadying him with Henry's help. The man groaned, and Paige shifted out of the way, just in case he was about to throw up all over her shoes, again.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone," the man mumbled, not looking up at her.

"Yeah, see, I guess I just didn't hear you," Paige said, as she wrapped an arm around the man's waist to keep him on his feet. "Come on, where do you live?"

After a moment, the man mumbled an address that wasn't too far from where they were, but she really didn't relish the thought of dragging her charge all the way there. She'd already started forming a vague impression about the man, and she hoped that what she was about to do wasn't going to backfire on her.

"Hold onto your stomachs," she warned both Henry and her charge, and then she orbed out of the alley.

They materialized in the middle of a cramped, cluttered studio apartment. The man pulled away from Paige and Henry to stumble across the mess and fall face-down on the unmade bed in the corner.

"You're strong for a girl," the man mumbled, into his pillow.

"Thanks, I think," Paige replied, exchanging a wry look with Henry. "So, I'm Paige. And you are?" she prompted, when she didn't get an answer.

"Sam," the man finally grunted out, and Paige nodded, as more of her suspicions were confirmed.

"Well, Sam," she tried, "how about I get you some coffee?" A wordless noise was her only answer, and she bit back a sigh. "Okay, how about some water? Or, maybe you want to talk? You know, I'm a really good listener."

"Didn't listen when I told you to leave me alone," Sam retorted.

"He has a point," Henry said, in a whisper, and Paige glared at him.

"You are not helping," she hissed. To Sam, she added, "I know what you're going through can be overwhelming, but sometimes-"

"You don't know anything about what I'm going through," Sam said, flatly, his words muffled by the pillow.

Paige sighed, looking around the small space. Henry nudged her, suddenly, and she looked over to see a framed picture that he'd picked up off a table. There was a small crack in the corner of the glass, and she ran her fingers across the cool glass, tracing the outline of her mother's face.

"I know more than you think," she said, quietly, as she replaced the picture on the table. "Look, Sam," she added, when he didn't say anything, "I'm here for a reason. I'm here to help you."

Sam snorted, flopping over to glare, half-heartedly, at her. "Tell the Elders I don't need their help," he snapped at her. "Especially from a newbie."

"He's just as stubborn as you are," Henry muttered, wincing when Paige stomped on his foot.

"All right," Paige finally replied, "I'm going to leave you alone, for now. But, if you need me, all you have to do is call."

"I think I know the drill," Sam muttered, under his breath, and Henry barely bit back a chuckle. Paige elbowed him in the side.

"Call me for anything," she stressed, and then she hissed to Henry, "I hope you get sick." Then, she orbed them out of the apartment, and back to the Manor.


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note: **To my readers and reviewers: you guys are awesome, and I am grateful for each and every one of you. You made my day with your comments and encouragement.

* * *

Paige sighed as she leaned back against the couch, rubbing at her temples with the heels of her hands. She had the scrapbook containing her mother's letters to Sam open on the coffee table, along with everything else that her sisters had rescued from his old place down at the lake. Pictures of her mother and Sam (which was where she remembered seeing his face before, and why he looked so familiar), articles about all the drownings at the lake (including Patty's, which gave Paige chills to read), a certificate for Teacher of the Year, and a birth certificate. All of it painted a picture of the man that she'd left alone in his apartment, and she was more determined than ever to help him find himself, again.

When the couch cushion sank down beside her, she looked over, expecting to see Henry. It wasn't him, but she wasn't really surprised at who she saw.

"Hey, Mom," she greeted, with a smile, and Patty reached out to pull her into a hug.

"How are you, my darling?" she asked, and Paige relaxed against her mother's side.

"Well," she remarked, "I'm still sane."

"You've been so strong," Patty told her, quietly. "Paige, I am so proud of you."

"The Elders sent you down here?" Paige asked, getting a nod in return.

"Leo persuaded them to send me," Patty replied. "We haven't gotten a lot of time together, since you found your sisters, and we lost so much before-"

"You and Sam," Paige interrupted her, gently, "you gave me up to protect me. Leo told me what would have happened, if the Elders had found out-"

"It was still the hardest decision of our lives," Patty said. "Paige, I wanted to keep you with me, with all of my heart. I never wanted to give you up. Neither did your father. Losing you, even to save you, it was so hard on him." She closed her eyes, briefly. "Losing a child, no matter what the reason-"

"I know," Paige said, softly, when Patty stopped, suddenly. "Mom, I found him," she added. "I found Sam."

When there was no reaction from her mother, she snuck a look over at the older woman.

"You don't really see surprised," she remarked, idly. "It was you, wasn't it? You led me to Sam, led me to find him."

"Your connection is genuine," Patty assured her. "You're both Whitelighters, you share blood, you would have found each other, eventually. I just helped things along. Are you angry?" she asked, when Paige remained silent.

"No," Paige decided, after a moment. "I mean, I think at one point, I would have been. When I was a kid, when I first found out that I was adopted, I hated you both for not keeping me. I told myself that I wasn't good enough to be your daughter, that you didn't love me. Guess what Barbas capitalized on?" she added, wryly.

"Paige, I have never stopped loving you," Patty said, earnestly, and Paige covered her mother's hand with her own, squeezing her fingers, gently.

"I know," she repeated, firmly. "With everything that I've learned about myself over the last year, this family has been the best part of it. And I wouldn't give any of you up for the world."

"Even Sam?" Patty asked, after a moment, and Paige chuckled at her mother's absolute stubbornness.

"If I don't hate you for giving me the chance to have an amazing family," she pointed out, "how can I hate Sam for the same thing?"

"That's awfully rational of you," Patty commented.

"Well," Paige replied, "I've spent the last month locked in a cycle of fear, anger, and pain. It's kind of nice to be a little Zen about things, you know?"

"What are you going to do about Sam?" Patty finally asked her.

"Find him," Paige replied, with a shrug. "Talk. Get to know each other."

"He blames himself for not being able to protect you," Patty told her, quietly. "I know Sam, and ever since we had to give you up, it's been eating at him. He's been convinced for years that if he'd just fought harder-"

Paige shook her head, silently cutting her mother off. "I wouldn't be the person I am, today, without the life I've had," she said. "All of it, good and bad. You and Sam, you didn't just save my life, you gave me one, too."

* * *

Two hours later, after a bout of meditation, a failed attempt at sensing (she really needed to get Leo to teach her that one; surely not all of a Whitelighter's powers were triggered by experience?), and a scrying session, complete with a crystal dotted with specks of her blood, she finally found Sam.

She orbed to the older Whitelighter, blinking in surprise as she found herself standing on top of one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Sam was standing at the edge, staring out at the water, a closed-off expression on his face.

Paige took a step forward, but then she hesitated. Despite her words to Patty, she really had no idea what to say to Sam – to her father. She'd forgiven him any sins, real or imaginary, a long time ago, the day she'd held her own, newborn daughter in her arms and realized just what she would do to protect her child. But, she knew that Sam wasn't likely to hear her, not until he was willing to forgive himself for what he thought he'd done.

_'Like you can forgive yourself for Pax?'_ an insidious little voice spoke up in the back of her mind.

No, the irony of the situation was not lost on her.

_'I should tell him,'_ she thought. _'If anyone can understand, it's Sam. Maybe I can help him forgive himself. Maybe we can help each other.'_

She opened her mouth to say something – anything, she didn't know what – but she froze. She couldn't get the words out of her throat. And she could see Pax in some, hazy memory, begging to know why Paige couldn't save her. Her stomach rolled, wildly, at the image, and a spike of pain shot through her heart.

_'I can't,'_ she realized, as she ruthlessly stuffed the painful memory down into the dark corner of her mind where she put everything that hurt. _'But, now I don't know how to reach Sam.'_

As it turned out, she hadn't needed to have worried. While she'd been lost in her thoughts, Sam had turned around and noticed her presence, and was watching her with that same, blank expression in his eyes.

"Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?" he asked, sounding tired.

"I have a hard time minding my own business," Paige said, forcing a lightness into her tone that she didn't really feel. "I get that from my mother."

"Patty could be very persistent," Sam said, mildly, and Paige raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"How long have you known?" she asked.

"Since I started thinking about it," Sam told her. "I couldn't figure out how the Elders had located me to assign a Whitelighter to me-"

"Because if they were able to locate you in the first place," Paige said, "they wouldn't need the Whitelighter."

"Exactly," Sam replied. "But, you wouldn't need the Elders to be able to find me. We're connected; we'll always be able to find each other. I just don't know why you'd want to look for me," he added, bitterly.

"To be fair," Paige said, carefully, "I wasn't actually looking for you. I thought you were dead," she pointed out, when Sam looked at her. "Piper told me how you saved them from the demon that killed Mom."

"About a year after," Sam said, after a long moment, "the Elders offered me the chance to be a Whitelighter, again. And for a while, everything was okay. But, then I wasn't fast enough, and a charge lost his life-"

"That wasn't your fault," Paige told him, but Sam didn't look like he believed her. "You can't save all of them," she insisted, gently. "My sisters taught me that, after I lost my first Innocent."

"And you're going to tell me that you believe that?" Sam asked, dryly.

"I have to," Paige replied. "Otherwise, I'll go insane."

"Why did you come after me?" Sam asked, suddenly, changing the subject.

"I thought we already covered that," Paige commented, but Sam shook his head.

"Why did you keep coming after me?" he corrected himself.

"You kept calling out to me," Paige told him.

"Not consciously," Sam muttered, under his breath.

"Still kept calling to me," Paige countered, stubbornly. "And, I'll admit that I was curious, once I realized who you were. I want to get to know you. You are my father," she added, when Sam gave her an incredulous look.

"Some father I've been," he muttered, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you know what?" she snapped, impatiently, "stop it. Stop beating yourself up."

"I abandoned you," Sam said, sounding disgusted with himself.

"Saved my life," Paige shot back, and then she threw her hands, skyward. "Why are we even arguing about this?"

"Patty and I never should have given you up," Sam insisted.

"You never would have been allowed to keep me," Paige pointed out. "Leo told me what would have happened if the Elders had found out about me before they did. I wouldn't have been allowed to grow up with my sisters; I would have been nothing more than an experiment to them, something to study. Mom would have been punished for breaking their stupid rules, the Charmed Ones might never have existed, you would have had your soul recycled-"

"I should have protected you," Sam muttered, and Paige sighed when she realized that he wasn't listening to her.

"You _did_ protect me," she said, fiercely, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him until he looked at her. "You and Mom protected me the only way you could. By giving me up, and giving me a life where the Elders couldn't find me."

"Didn't work, though," Sam grumbled. "You're a witch, you're on their radar, again-"

"Yeah, but now I'm invaluable," Paige reassured him. "Without me, there is no Power of Three. And besides, the Elders relaxed those stupid rules enough for Piper to be expecting her first baby."

"Different council now than it was back then," Sam told her. "Piper's having a baby?" he asked, sounding amazed. "She and Leo-"

"Married," Paige replied. "Going on two years."

"Good for them," Sam said, softly. A wistful look came over his face, and he added, "I only wish your mother and I could have had the same chance."

"She's the one who led me to you," Paige told him, with a small smile. "I guess she figured that we needed each other."

"What did I tell you?" Sam retorted, grinning. "She's persistent. So are you," he added, giving her a wry look. "Thank you for not giving up on me."

"Thank you for giving me a life," Paige returned. "Come to dinner, tonight," she added, getting a surprised look from Sam. "We can talk some more, you can see Piper, Phoebe, and Leo, again." When Sam hesitated, she reached out and took his hand. "What do you say, Dad?"

Sam shot her a startled look, looking down at their joined hands in muted astonishment. "Dinner sounds good," he finally answered. "I'd love to."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well, here we have it, the last chapter of _Comes Out of Darkness, Morn_. It's been an exciting ride, but it's far from over. Join me next week for the first chapter of the sequel, _My Heart Nearer to Thee_: When Phoebe's husband and son are abducted to a dangerous alternate universe, the Charmed Ones must travel across reality to save them.


End file.
